Born To Burn
by Trojan Pony
Summary: A story about a young boy, gifted in fire magic, who is given a daunting task by the 4 Wise Leaders. Can he, with his newfound friends, save the Maple World and bring back peace? Rated T for violence, language and lame humor. Ch 14 up! Finally!
1. Chapter 1

The first Maple Fanfic written by TrojanPony.

Hi guys. Some of you might remember me as the one who wrote the deleted "Hero's Dragon" for Runescape. Well, having switched to Maple a decently long time ago, I have decided to start a Maple fanfic, which is why you are here reading this in the first place. Well, enough about me, lets continue on to the fanfic.

By the way, I'm Lv 30 Fire-Poison, in MapleSea-Bootes.

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Disclaimer.

What I am writing is pure baloney. Don't sue me.

Also, don't blame me if the info about equips and skills are wrong. I'm only Lv 30.

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Chapter 1

Many many years have passed since the founding of this virtual world. The Maple Craze had long swept throughout the world. Though many people have stopped their Mapling soon after the next latest game hit the streets, for one person his adventure was just beginning, an adventure far greater then what he had ever guessed when he was born one snowy Monday night.

It was a cold night, much too cold. Jagged ice crystals larger than golf balls rained down from a dark cloud covering almost the whole of Victoria Island. The falling ice lay down a shower of bone numbing death on the unlucky adventurers without a roof on their heads.

The level Fire-Poison Archmage swore as he tried to make some headway through the waist deep layer of ice and snow. He raised his staff over his head and cast a sort of fire shield, and then used Explosion to clear the land around him. He continued doing that until he ran out of mana. Sighing, he hunched deeper into his robes and tried to go as fast as possible, while dodging the ice crystals that do him a fair bit of damage. He looked up and noticed that he was at Hill East of Henesys. Nearby, a level 24 was sitting on a chair, seemingly oblivious to the hail battering the life out of his body. As he watched, the level 24 died, a tombstone fell from the sky, striking a female Warrior on the head. She fell facedown into the snow, unconscious.

The hooded Archmage hesitated, then jumped up, and started dragging the Warrior towards town, sheltering them as best as he could with a fire shield made from his limited mana.

In Town, all the houses were filled to overflowing with people trying to escape the freak storm. Seeing that no space was left, he immediately went to the nearest shelter he could think of, the kennel near Bruce.

Cramped into a kennel, with a playful dog licking at her face, she woke up. Outside the safety of the kennel, ice shards pounded at the snow-covered floor. Wearing her helmet, she peered outside, hoping to get a glimpse of what was happening. She saw a mage casting a sort of fire shield above him, making the ice that fell above him melt. From the number of empty bottles around him, he must have been using a lot of mana. She shouted above the din of the storm

"You know, I do have a house in Henesys. Wanna go inside to wait out the storm?"

"Gee, thanks. I guess you wouldn't want to be in a kennel too."

" Yeah. By the way, do you know who took me inside here?"

"Oh, yes."

"Who?"

"Me"

"Really? Thanks so much. Here, I'll fame you."

"Thanks. Lets go"

They ran off through the hail to the house. The hooded stranger did not remove the hood. As he sipped at the bitter coffee, he looked at the pictures of the female warrior, a male warrior and a young bowman Obviously a family. He turned to the woman, who was busy washing some cups.

"you're married?"

"yes."

"Why isn't your husband with you?"

"Oh. He passed away last year."

"I'm sorry."

As he said "I'm sorry", he suddenly felt it.

That feeling that one gets when you are faced with an impossible coincidence.

That feeling of shock and sadness.

_Married. Two Warriors with a bowman son. The husband died fighting a war that was not his to fight. No, it cannot be. It must not be…but it is my job. I will have to find out. But I am not sure if I really want to know the truth……_

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Hah a cliffie! End of Chapter 1. Please review, and stay tuned for the next exciting episode of "Born to Burn!"

Also, some of my old readers might think im adopting a whole different style, but rest assured this is only the beginning, and my intro to the storyhas not even been finished

P.S

It will come out at about July 5 or 6. One chapter normally takes 2-3 days for me.

And Remember to REVIEW

I want at least 2 reviews as a quota before ipost the next chappie.

Trojanpony, Signing out.


	2. Chapter 2

Born to Burn. By Trojanpony

Sorry for the various typing mistakes in the previous chapter. Part 2 of the prologue to Born to Burn.

Some of you readers might wonder why the story is called Born to Burn when the first chapter is all about snow, but I assure you the snow in the previous chapter has nothing to do with the story.

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Disclaimer:

I do not own Maple. If I did, it wouldn't be called Maplestory in the first place.

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Oh, my username is MSea-Bootes is NAKAMARA. Add me if you want to )

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Chapter 2: Moral Dilemma

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_Married. Two Warriors with a bowman son. The husband died fighting a war that was not his to fight. No, it cannot be. It must not be…but it is my job. I will have to find out. But I am not sure if I really want to know the truth……_

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The hooded Archmage tried to contain his shock. He would have to appear as natural as possible.

"By the way, do you have a baby?"

The warrior tried to contain her astonishment. How did he know? She had raised him to five years old in total secrecy. She knew that she could not, and would not kill him. For five years after she saw that silver string of glittering symbols on both the baby's wrists she had foolishly deluded herself, thinking that perhaps… perhaps there might be a way… a way to change his fate… to protect the world without sacrificing her son…

But day by day, when the baby gurgled happily in that hidden room dug out just for him, the silvery strands of interwoven magic in his wrists glowed in the darkness, and she began to have doubts about whether she could really control destiny, whether she could really tempt fate… if he could really replace his mother's oldest child, the archer that had not been seen for eight years.

"Ye…yes…"

The mage was not as surprised as he thought he would be. After all, the odds that this was the particular family were very high. Now when he thought of it, the cryptic lines uttered by the Master seemed to make sense…

_You are looking…an arrow with sword and armor of steel…_

_The priest, gone to an empty battle…_

_A'fith year, with burnin' lines of ivory is the prophecy…_

_Find him, and kill him. _

Even so, he still felt a twinge of sadness when he heard that answer. After all the kindness she had shown him he wondered if it would be honorable to slaughter her son. But still, he needed more proof.

"Hello?"

"Huh?" he was so deep in thought that he had not realized that she was calling him.

"I asked you how you knew I had a baby"

"Oh." He pointed to a whitewashed wall. Near the bottom was a very light smudged handprint.

"I see…"

The mage wondered if he should just go back and report that he found nothing. After all, he was just going back when the freak storm struck. But he knew that he would regret it one day…

"Can I see the baby?"

"What? No...No...Okay, fine…yes."

"Thanks"

They descended down a staircase cleverly hidden behind a bookshelf. She was fidgeting uncomfortably, and at times opened her mouth, but thought better of saying anything. Her right hand held the sheathed sword.

He saw that in the dimly lit stairs, and increased his grip on his staff.

They reached a small room, where a small bed stood at a corner. Lamps illuminated the area.

A small toddler was sleeping peacefully. As he stepped closer, he saw the faint lines of silver which reflected the light off the lamps. He gasped, more in shock than surprise. This was not the person he imagined would be the one to destroy the entire Maple world. In fact, this looked like an ordinary toddler except for the lines of silver on his wrists.

He heard the sword slide out of its sheath, looking for blood. He whipped around with the staff out in a blocking movement. The underground room resonated with the sound of metal hitting metal.

Her eyes were fearful and watery as she looked at him pleadingly.

"Please don't tell anyone… Please…"

His mind was made up.

"I never will"

Then they went up to have more coffee and wait out the storm.

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The next day, she went to check on her son. The hooded stranger had left in the middle of the hail yesterday, saying that he had business to attend to.

Instead of her son, she found four bags of money on the small bed amounting to 200k, and a note:

"_He will be safe with me"_

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Woot! Finally only one more chapter of the intro to do before I start the actual story!

As you can see, this story is really similar to the "Iliad of Bera", my favorite Maple Fanfic, but this is a mage. This will be a VERY LONG FANFIC (I hope) and I will need all the support I can get! Thanks Attic-Window for 1st to review and Inspector Marth for 2nd review… and come' on all my readers.… you can review more…

Okay, I just want 4 reviews before I post the next chappie. I will not post until you get at least 4 reviews, so there. I am accepting characters in the story from chapter 3 onwards, so pls send me your Maple info:

Username:

Password: (just kidding)

Job:

Level:

Personality:

Equipment

Good side or Bad side:

REMEMBER TO REVIEW!


	3. Chapter 3

Born to Burn, Chapter 3, By Trojanpony.

The final Chapter of the Prologue to Born to Burn.

Why do you guys never review? (pouts) I always finish my 800+word chapters before you finish your 10+ word reviews… Remember that I will not post anything until you meet your review quota.

Remember, my buddy list has an empty space for your name. So does my review page.

Once again, I'm NAKAMARA of Maplesea, Bootes, now level 31. Obviously, I'm a fire/poison.

This chapter, as well as this part before the actual story, has been made ridiculously long for my standards, because I promised that this was the last chapter of the prologue and so I had to cram everything into 1 chapter.

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Disclaimer:

Maplestory is not mine. If it was I wouldn't be buying prepaid cards. Boohoo…

This chapter has some weird humor randomly inserted in the serious environment of this chapter. Please do not be offended.

Also, information like Job skills and amour information are property of Hidden-Street, but probably can be found in just about any Maple-related website. But the information is from Hidden-Street, like I said.

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The next day, she went to check on her son. The hooded stranger had left in the middle of the hailstorm yesterday, saying that he had business to attend to.

Instead of her son, she found four bags of money on the small bed amounting to 200k, and a note:

"_He will be safe with me"_

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Chapter 3: Idunnowhattoputherebecauseisukattitles.

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Fifteen years later…

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Tom sat on a tree stump, after making sure there were no axes in it. He watched the other teenagers blast each other with weak energy bolts, having lots of fun. Down the forest-infested street, he saw the child of a Henesys migrant (who had traveled here a few years ago) practicing his archery by shooting at slimes. Despite the hot and humid weather in Ellinia, the archer still wore a winter hat and a thick vest.

As Tom looked around, he could see that all the children and teenagers were having fun, and even most of the adults were leaning over the carefully trimmed foliage that separated their houses to talk to the neighbors, sipping coffee and enjoying the Sunday morning. He did not know them very well, as he had just moved here a month ago from Perion. Tom's father was constantly moving house, and Tom longed for the day where he could stay in one place and not be changing environments every few months,

Tom was, like always, forbidden by his father under pain of being grounded, never to show off or practice magic in the open. Tom always grumbled at that, because he knew that his magical skills were much better than other young mages of his age. While they were still trying to do better on their Magic Claw, he had already mastered it and could summon a small flame on his fingertips without feeling pain.

Tom looked down at his wrists. For as long as he could remember, he had been wearing this pair of finely decorated wrist guards made out of well refined Adamantium. His father had told him that it was a good luck charm that Tom's mother had left before she died when Tom was very little. Looking at this wrist guards reminded him of the mother he never had.

As he stood up and walked back to his house, his orange wrist guards glinted under the occasional patch of sunlight, and Tom could have sworn that there was a glow coming from under the wrist guards.

Tom's father was sitting on a blue-colored chair, reading the morning paper over some steaming coffee. He noticed Tom and called him to take a sit.

"Son, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

Tom was quite surprised at his father's serious face when he asked that question. Even so, he knew precisely what he wanted to be.

"Of course, a Fire/ Poison mage."

"I knew you would say that. But seriously, what so you think about the elements Ice and Lightning, and even being a cleric?" Though his father said that with a laugh, Tom sensed that his cheerful face was very strained.

"Well, I guess that Lightning is quite cool, and Ice is also useful in stopping hyperactive monsters, but I don't see the need to freeze monsters when there is an ability to slow them down. As for Cleric, it's really quite fun and cheap to heal yourself, instead of buying and drinking potions that taste… that taste weird."

"Oh."

"And also, a Priest's Mystic Door is obviously very helpful, as well as Doom and Summon Dragon. The 3rd job Ice Lightning also has Thunder Spear and Ice Strike. The 3rd job Fire Poison mage has a really cool Explosion and Poison Mist. Oh great…. Now I'm not sure which job is better… "

"(mutters) Why did I add so much intelligence to him…"

"I'll go out and try to analyze the different skills and see which job is more suitable for me." Tom walked out of the house, turned south to a multi-storey field, pulled out a blue chair from nowhere and sat down, thinking.

To the north of Ellinia, 3 Snipers started charging up their Ice arrows…

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30 minutes later…

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"Dad! I finally figured it out! Since you are also a Fire Poison Mage, I will have advantage as you can teach me. Also, since you raised me up in the way of a Fire Poison, my best element currently is fire. See, I can summon a small flame!" Tom was running bask to the house, shouting.

As he neared the house, he was suddenly aware of the silence. Tom self-consciously stopped running and crept to the house.

(Try to imagine this. Tom's house is facing the north, and Tom is currently facing the back of the house.)

Tom was trying to creep as silently as he could through the shin-deep vegetation when he stepped on something that made a crunching noise. He reached down into the undergrowth and pulled out a crossbow arrow, cold to the touch…..

"Oh no… Please review or I cannot survive… :-)"

Just kidding, though it wouldn't harm to review more

Anyway, back to the story:

"Ice shot? Isn't that a third job skill for snipers? There's no one in Ellinia who is a sniper…"

His hand brushed against another hard object. A second ice arrow. And a third one. Filled with dread, Tom advanced to the back wall of the house. Getting closer, he saw three small holes in the brick wall, about 3cm apart from each other. The surrounding area of the wall was dripping condensation.

Putting his eye to one of the holes, he could see the interior of the house, as well as past it through the windows in the house. He gasped. A body was lying on the floor facedown in a pool of blood, with three neat puncture marks below the left shoulder blade, at the back of the heart. There was no mistaking the red Varuna (Lv 98 overall mage) which the dead person wore.

"DAD! NOOOO!" (Insert drama)

Tom ran around to the front of the house, but slipped in the wet grass of the early morning dew. As he fell, three arrows zipped past and went through the part of the wall where his head had been a split-second ago, cutting through a bit of his disheveled hair. The tip of his hair and that part of the wall froze instantly. Cliché.

Tom noticed a glint of well polished metal to the north. Tom realized that the people there were to kill him. He cast a magic claw, but because of the limited range only managed the fell a tree. The tree fell between his and the attackers. People that had not noticed the arrows before now turned to watch. The gigantic tree that fell was frozen, and it managed to block the arrows. Tom could just see the three snipers retreating. But he would not let them off that easily. His anger was like boiling lava, sweeping up and burning everything in its path.

Tom threw his Metal wand forward as hard as he could. When it was about to land, now closer to the retreating attackers, he shouted out

"Magic Claw!" One sniper was hit by the two blasts of slashing energy and fell.

"Magic Claw! Magic Claw!" The four slashes tore apart the base of another giant tree, and it fell. There was no time to run. The fifteen-meter thick tree fell with an earthshaking thud where the three snipers were. The land was torn up in a cloud of water, grass, birds, and his metal wand now turned to dust. Then all was silent. (Insert drama again)

The two trees that fell had fallen over the path that was leading to the dungeon. Due to the extensive road repairs needed to repair the Eillina Warning Street, it was never rebuilt and vegetation grew over the road till there was no trace of the path at all.

Having taken care of his killers, Tom ran back amidst gaping stares from his neighbors, but one stare at them shut them up. He needed some time to think. His Adamantium Wrist Guards were glowing like little stars from within, but he took no notice. He was consumed by both shock and pure anger. His anger was not the type that was mixed with lots of profanities, but the type that boiled slowly under an exterior of calm, waiting for a chance to erupt and spill death on the unsuspecting people.

As in Maplestory, dead people just disappear after a while; Tom did not need to prepare any funeral arrangements. He just took a bouquet of blue flowers from John (whose whole house was crammed full of it due to everyone doing the quest) and laid it at his father's body. For two days he sat there, not moving a muscle, not eating or drinking, watching his father's body slowly turn into wisps of reddish-green gas that trailed into the atmosphere. Then he started packing up. He knew that he could not stay any longer. He now understood why his father had moved house continuously for the past fifteen years. It was to elude pursuers. For what reason, he did not know.

While packing up their belongings, Tom was desperately looking for any clue that could explain what was happening. While putting aside a box of n00b clothes that were never sold to an NPC, it dropped and the contents scattered all over the floor. While taking the Blue Jean Shorts back to its box, he felt something hard in its pocket. Cliché…

"What's this? Hey, it's a pocketbook. Huh? Dad's diary? He never mentioned it to me…"

Tom withdrew the small well-worn book and started rifling through it.

"Wow… all this stuff happened so long ago…September 1925? He was 12 years old then… he must be very old…flip flip flip flip flip Hey, how come there are 20 years missing from this book?"

He had flipped to this page, written on in 1947. The next page was 1977. He read the 1947 page to find out why 20 whole years were missing from his father's life. The page was extremely well worn, like it was opened to that page many many times.

_23 August 1947_

_Dear diary,_

_I just turned 34 last week. Almost no one at my age still keeps a diary, but I still do. You help me vent my frustration when I have no one to turn to. You are the only one that I can trust with my secrets. From when I was 12, I have never given, or thrown you away. You are the only friend that can stick by me. Today, I was training hard, as usual, on my Fire Arrow. I have gotten a bit stronger since the last time I wrote to you, 2 days ago. After that, I had to go to work providing heating to the El Nath residents…, and again I saw my Boss. He was as usual Bossy and I just..._ A bit of the paper was covered with a burn. Tom continued reading, skipping the burnt part.

_Drat! I burned the book. Lucky I took away that candle in time. …Oh, the night mail has arro(cancelled out)arrived. Gotta go! Maybe I'm accepted into the Order! _

_To my best friend._

Frustrated at the lack of clues, except about the cancelled-out mention of the mysterious Order, he turned to the next page, twenty years later. It was a very short message.

_**4 October 1977**_

_**Dear Diary,**_

**_I'm sorry for not writing for so long… the Ord(cancelled out)My profession… required me to be away. I just came back last week. I am so exhausted… But the good news is that I have by now mastered all of my current skills! I am now training hard to be and Archmage… I can hardly keep my eyes open… goodnight anyway... I'll try to write tomorrow, but no guarantees…_**

_**Regards**_

Tom's mind started racing. What was this Order? Clearly, to find out more about his assailants, he must first find out what was it. He had the nagging suspicion that the snipers were sent by the Order. He started looking in the still-packed up books from the last move.

Throwing irrelevant books over his shoulder, he quickly worked his way through the various spell casting books. He finally found one that might have to do with the Order he was looking for. The book was very thick and red in color, with five gold locks keeping the book securely shut. The title was _Zero: The mathematicians view on its origins and functions. _Below the text, a large O was embossed into the hardback book. The O was well decorated, with dragons circling it in a ring, and some strange symbols forming an outer ring around the dragons. Somehow, he felt that he had seen these symbols before, but he couldn't remember where. He tentatively put his fingers on the outer ring of symbols and turned. It could be rotated. With some calculations, he rotated the outer ring thirty degrees right, and the inner ring of dragon's fifteen degrees right. The center O slid open, revealing…

A number lock. (y'know, those types where you have to turn multiple wheels to get the number to unlock the lock.)

There were eight wheels all together.

00:00:00:00

Tom was momentarily stunned at the code, but after some thinking his eyes brightened.

Fetching the diary, he sat down and studied the safe. He flipped to the most well worn page in the book

"_23 August 1947"_

_23, 08, 1947._

_28:08:19:47_

Bingo.

The book/safe immediately opened by itself. It was actually a book. The first page stated in large text: The Order." Flipping through the book, he discovered shocking facts. The Order was a secret society of the highest level, even gaining sponsorship by the government. It was almost like an intelligence agency. They were responsible for carrying out hit attacks on rebellious monsters and/or humans. At the "legends" chapter, the first page of it was simply written:

_You are looking for...a flying arrow... with ancient sword... and the missing armor of steel…_

_The priest, gone to an empty battle... unfulfilled and lifeless..._

_A growing year, with burnin' lines of ivory is the key..._

_He is the prophecy that will shake the world... that will destroy... _

The following pages of the chapter were filled with analysis by experts and their opinions.

He suddenly realized why he thought that he had seen those symbols on the front cover of the book. Because he did. Looking at his wristguards, he noticed a soft glow coming from under it.

"_with burnin' lines of ivory is the key…"_

He got up and started walking to the local blacksmith's. This had to be solved.

For hours the blacksmith hammered at the wrist guards, trying to break them. Finally, by the help of a borrowed Gold Dragon it was broken. Now, as the "burning lines of ivory" glowed on his wrists, he knew what he had to do. He had to flee... and start a new life.

Grabbing his meager possessions in a bag, he set off to the unknown with a hope that the prophecy was not what he thought it was…

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TO BE CONTINUED…

See, I said that this would be long… this chapter is about 3000 words, and forgive me if this doesn't make sense. It's by first chapter of this magnitude. So to reward my efforts PLEASE REVIEW….. It's very discouraging to receive so little reviews. Just review, I don't care what you put inside. It makes me feel that Maplestory is losing out to Runescape…but anyway, you guys please review as much as you can. I will set the quota for this chapter to 6 reviews. So, you must at least give me 6 reviews in total, or I will not add any other chapters. Normally, I can finish my chapters in at most 3 days, so I really hope that you will review enough in time for me to post the chapter.

Thanks to AmayaRainStorm for faves.

Remember to review!

QUOTA IS 6!


	4. Chapter 4

The First Actual Chapter of Born to Burn

You guys might find this a bit short compared to the (almost) 3000 word chapter 3, but it's not this that's short, it's the previous chapter that's long.

Many many thanks goes to Eien Kaosu for the almost-instant 3 reviews I got. By the way, Eien Kaosu, the Archmage is a 4th job, but no info has been released on it as far as I know.

Once again, my username in MapleSea is NAKAMARA, in Bootes, so add me if you happen to play MSea.

I will be adding your characters in the story as soon as I can.

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Disclaimer:

As I have said, I do not own MapleStory. "MapleStory Copyright © 2002 Wizet Corporation Ltd. and AsiaSoft Online Pte Ltd. All Rights Reserved." I am not Wizet, nor Asiasoft, so I do not own Maplestory. Most of the skills and information about equipment is provided by Hidden-Street, or Of course, I am not Hidden, nor am I a Street, and I am not called Maplesea Com. So, I also do not own the websites. Understand?

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Chapter 4: The trucks of Marbles

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Tom walked out of the Kerning City armory. He grumbled at the extra weight he was carrying. He had just sold his father's Varuna for 10 million and bought a **White Wizard Robe**, a backup Mithril wand , a nice looking Black Magicshoe, a Bamboo Hat, and a new version of a Lutia. Instead of a red, blue, or black Lutia, he had paid extra to Francios to make his Lutia out of an expensive Wisdom Crystal. It had cost him a lot for the gloves, and even more to ensure the silence of the sly craftsman who was the only one who had seen his wrist other than the blacksmith, who was also in Ellina. The gloves fitted nicely over his wrists, and he could feel the extra power from the Wisdom Crystals. He had spent more than a quarter of his money buying the items, as well as an incredibly expensive Mystic Shield.

He had just reached level 30, and he needed to job advance. Quite clear on which job he wanted, he started the long walk towards Ellinia.

Grendel the Really Old peered at him through thick glasses. This was no ordinary kid, he could tell. Grendel could feel a certain energy radiating from the young man, much like what he himself felt when he was Grendel the Really Pro. Asking him to get 30 Dark Marbles would be as easy as killing Green Snails. Grendel chuckled silently to himself. He would have some fun with this boy.

"Hello sir, here's my Proof of a Hero. I stopped by on the way to Ellinia to get one. I want to be a Fire Poison mage please. "

"Oh, so you have the Proof of a Hero? Well, now you don't! (Grendel burns away the paper with a Fire Arrow) MUHAHAHAHA…"

"Oh well, I'll get another one. Wait here"

Tom started to walk out, but Grendel stops him.

"I'm raising the amount of Dark Marbles you need."

"How many?"

"Three hundred"

Hello. No

"Oh. Ok"

"Thousand."

"WHAT?"

"I said you need three hundred thousand Dark Marbles."

"You're crazy."

"No, I'm just Really Old. Here's what… I tell my friend to give you a bit of exp for the monsters, and I let you Job Advance before you give me the Dark Marbles. But, you cannot use potions, and you have to get 300000 in one shot, without leaving the place. Deal?"

"Deal. One problem though.

"What? Too hard for you?

"No, I don't have the space for 300000 Dark Marbles."

"I'll arrange for a truck."

---------------Job Advancement Successful: Fire Poison Mage--------------------

(Added SP to Fire Arrow)

"WOOT! Now I'll go kick some Afivefive!"

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At the place with Curse Eyes and HornED (I refuse to say Hor-neah) Mush…

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Okay…. They're more or less resistant to Fire or Poison, so those are out… the only way to kill 3000 is by rushing them with Magic Claw...but without potions, that's impossible. I know! Dark Marbles!...

After getting about fifty of the Dark Marbles, Tom started to walk around dropping them in a certain sequence, with Magic Guard protecting him. When he was done, he jumped up to the top, where there was a safe platform, and looked over the placing in satisfaction. He took out his backup wand, so that he was holding to Mithrill Wands. He aimed carefully.

"MAGIC CLAW TIMES TWO!"

2 Magic Claws shot out from the two wands, hitting 2 separate Dark Marbles. The Dark Marbles being half-translucent split the Magic Claw into 2, going in opposite directions and adding an extra darkness attack. Then the 2 separate attacks sliced apart 2 monsters (because of the added Darkness attack) and hit another Dark Marble, restarting the whole process, a chain of geometrically increasing Magic Claws. The new Dark Marbles dropped by the new monsters further increased the number of attacks. Tom sat down on his blue chair as he watched the platforms below him covered in blue, and the guy supposed to give him the Proof of a Hero had left a inky spot on the parchment as he watched openmouthed. Tom, having nothing to do, decided to enter this state of meditation where anything (And I Mean Anything) could not disturb him. Commonly known as Astro-Foreign Krapation (AFK), It let users pass time very quickly when they had nothing better to do.

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Advertisment:

(AFK taken twice everyday will boost your mental and physical health. Side effects include vommitng-severeheadaches-lunginfection-musclecramps-Mayasweirddiesease-brainshrinkage-hormonalshortage-extralimbs-anddeath. Children under one should not be prescribed AFK)

Hahaha.

You're supposed to laugh.

……

Never mind.

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(Ten minutes later)

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"Where was I? Oh… the training place…"

He looked at his level.

38.

"WOAH!"

Below him, the blue Magic claws mixed with the dark Marbles looked like a solid, they were so thick. Reminding himself that he would not get hurt by his own spells, he jumped into the swirling fog.

And he landed on a thick layer of Dark Marbles. Grabbing as many as he could, (About 2k) he climbed up and dumped it outside, where it was picked up by the truck. He repeated the process until he got the 300k. By that time four more trucks were needed.

Level: 41

Skill Points: 33

Ability Points: 55

W00T.

"Thanks… I'll be going now. You wanna count the Dark Marbles?" Tom said to the shocked guy that gives out Proofs of Heroes

"Err… no thanks…"

"Okay, bye." Tom waked out of the tree dungeon. Then he looked down at the vast drops from here to the ground, the flimsy vines, and the small platforms.

"How in the world am I going to get the freakin trucks down?"

--------------------

End of Chapter 4

So sorry… I didn't know I had taken so long to do this chapter… I was quite distressed as Maple couldn't work… and still can't work now… I downloaded the client like five times…

But enough about me. Firstly I would like to apologize for the long time I took to post this chappie, and that I couldn't insert anyone in the story yet. Also note that I am totally unsure of weapon prices, so I was making a wild shot at 10mil for the Varuna.

You can request that your characters are put in my story, and please submit your info in the format in chapter 2, but for your benefit I will just put it here again:

Username:

Password: (just kidding)

Job:

Level:

Personality:

Equipment

Good side or Bad side:

Also, PLEASE review. Today's quota is 10 reviews, and try to meet it as soon as possible. If you see 10 reviews posted already, heck with it…post another review. It would be appreciated.

(According to my Microsoft Word, this is 1321 words, counting this sentence.)


	5. Chapter 5

Hi guys again… this is Trojan Pony. This is the 5th chapter of Born to Burn!

Thanks again for the almost-instant 10+2 reviews, and review more okay? Thanks so much!

By the way, Eien Kaosu, I didn't mean 3k, I meant 300k. Lol… sorry for the typing mistake. I just found out the reason I couldn't play Maple, its because there was a Trojan on my computer and GameGuard thought it was a hack. The irony…(Trojan, Trojan Pony) Note that my username was not created with viruses in mind. Some Greek Legend actually.

Okay, now let's start on this chapter. I also have no idea what will happen, as I write whatever comes into my mind. As I don't really have a concrete plot, I expect that this story can go on for a long while until I decide to end it.

---------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer:

I Claim that Dis is a DisClaimer. Haha. I don't own Maple (not literally anyway… I can t0tally 0wn the Jr Grupins…) and I also don't own MapleStory (SEA), MapleStory(Korea), MapleStory(Global), and any other MapleStory related real-world objects other than 4 prepaid cards and a CD case (I lost the CD).

All info about MapleStory equipment is lunch(On July 18)is the property of MacDonalds.

-----------------------------

Chapter 5: You think of an appropriate title yourself.

Tom waked out of the tree dungeon. Then he looked down at the vast drops from here to the ground, the flimsy vines, and the small platforms.

"How in the world am I going to get the freakin trucks down?"

-----------------------------

(A couple of days later…)

The trucks were clattering en-route to Grendel's house. In the cabin of the trucks sparks were coming out of the dashboard and there was a low cracking sound. The driver of one of them was grumbling as he tried to yank the gearshift to the next gear. The mechanisms smashed together with a grinding sound and refused to budge. Then the steering wheel fell off. The driver stuck his finger into the hole where the steering wheel used to be and started driving with his finger. The driver was very angry, to say the least. He started scolding Tom, who was sitting beside him.

"Hey boy, where did you learn how to fix cars like that?"

"Not my fault… I've never seen the engines of a car before…"

Tom and the drivers, finding no way to get down, had just dropped all the Dark Marbles down far below, and then dismantled the trucks and threw them down too. They had just made their way down and started putting the truck together again, when they suddenly realized that none of them know how to put together a car. It was simple dismantling it, but hard to put it back together. Finally, with Tom supervising them, they more or less put together a workable version of the car. Tom, considering that he had never seen the parts of a car before, had done a reasonably good job.

The trucks rumbled to a stop in the middle of Ellinia. Tom looked up. Grendel's house was a LONG way up….

"OH -----"

-------------------

Couple of hours later…

Tom stacked the last of the Dark Marbles outside Grendel's house. He had spent the previous few hours running up and down the vines carrying as many Dark Marbles as he could carry. Grendel stood watching openmouthed at the sea of black crystals in front of him.

"Do you want to count the Marbles Sir?"

"No…No thanks… How did you get all those?"

"Well, I took out 2 wands and jumped in with Magic Claws blazing. Then they surrounded me, but was I going to let them do that? I started blasting away, and though I was almost dead from the mana shortage, but I persevered and finally got 300k marbles."

"Okay…"

"Wait a minute… why did I have to get 300k Dark Marbles in the first place? I already had my job advancement…"

"Because of the constant exp, and the personal map?"

"Nah, because I felt like it. By the way, don't I get a reward for my outstanding acheivment?"

"Okay…. I know!"

"What?"

"Here, have 20 extra skill points. I must say that I am very impressed…"

"Wow thanks… according to my calculations and I should only add 15 to my Poison as the MP needed is raised after that. I prefer Fire anyway. Why learn Slow when I can kill most monsters I train on in one hit? Okay then, let's do Teleport and Meditation and MP eater. I'll better be good in MP eater; it will save me lots of money.

---------------------

Fire Arrow: Level 30

Poison Breath: Level 15

MP eater: Level 9

---------------------------------

"Okay boy, now that you are well ahead of most people who are the same or even slightly higher level than you, go out and train hard. I can sense the potential in you." Grendel said as he faded away slowly…

Tom looked at his wrists. He could feel the power surging in him. Grendel was right… he really had the potential.

Stopping by at the Ellinia general store, Tom asked about Grendel.

"He seemed to be going somewhere. Do you know where?"

"I'm not sure… but Grendel was quite preoccupied with this thing called Pakum or something. He'll be back in a few days though, so leave whatever questions you have for then. "

"How do you know that he'll be back in a few days?"

"He will. He's always back after a few days at most. Don't tell anyone that Grendel is going away. He told me to keep a secret, but I just can't. So don't tell."

…..

Focusing his energy on his hands, he drew an arc in the air, turning it into a flaming bow. Calmly pulling the burning bowstring, a Fire Arrow materialized and shot with deadly accuracy into the head of a charging Iron Hog. The heat-conducting metal glowed red and steam escaped from the roasting pig. He could smell the smell of a barbecue. A person wearing beginner clothes and hanging on a rope shouted out to him.

"Hey! Watch it! You almost burned my Ryden!"

"Dude…you were like a good twenty meters away… wait a minute, you have a Ryden? You are just a… "

"That's right. I have a Ryden. Yeah, I'm also a low level noob running around Pig Beach getting killed. (Sarcasm, If you haven't noticed)" The person jumped down, and changed his clothes to a Legolier set. He reached into his backpack, and extracted with some difficulty awell-polished green and yellow Ryden, gleaming in the sun like little stars. It was obviously very well taken care off.

Just then, an Iron Hog appeared behind him. He turned around and fired off a hasty shot at the charging monster, but in vain. The arrow just bounced off the metal armor and the Iron Hog barreled into him. Tom quickly barbecued the Iron Hog with another Fire Arrow, and went to the person who was sprawled on the ground, looking winded, as though someone had punched him in the stomach. Tom quickly brought him to a safe corner where the energetic jumping monsters could not reach. That was the first time Tom noticed the person's head. Partly hidden behind the person's green hat was a ponytail on her shoulder length brown hair.

"You…you're…a…girl?"

"Huh? Oh… yes… haha, everybody thinks that I'm male"

"Oh… I thought you were a boy at first… your clothes…"

"Yes… many people think that I'm a boy but OMG! My Ryden!"

"It's here." Tom had laid the Ryden beside her, on the ground.

"Oh. Phew." She started brushing some invisible specks of dirt from the Ryden.

" By the way, what's your name?"

"Hjiscool, just call me Heji. What's your name?"

"Tom."

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Okay, I just introduced Hjiscool into the story (Sorry for not placing you on Ludibrium, and hope that I have more or less captured your personality). Be happy, Eien Kaosu, for you are the first "real" character on Born to Burn!

I know that these chapters are pretty short, but at least I'm updating often. Thank you so much for all the reviews. Savage Blow I will try to fit you in as soon as I can appropriately do so.

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW

Quota's hmm… 15 reviews. Thanks so much, only means 3 more. (the last time I checked I had 126 hits, so means that my reader population is growing. Yay!)

Total number of words are: 1424 including this sentence


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 of Born to Burn

WOOT! My Maple works again!

Oh. Thanks Heji for the fanart.

-------------------------------

Disclaimer:

I do not own MapleStory, or any other computer game I can think of currently. It sure would be nice to own MapleStory… $$

All weapon, skill and armor information come from and the info about Hjiscool is from Eien Kaosu.

-------------------------------------------

" By the way, what's your name?"

"Hjiscool, just call me Heji. What's your name?"

"Tom."

-------------------------------(Like my design?)

Chapter 6: lalalala

Tom looked at the girl called Heji. She had tied her ponytail into a little bun on her head, with a little bit sticking out. That was why Tom did not notice it earlier.

"Come on! Lets go train! Don't sit there and rest! And…stop staring at me!"

"Erm… okay."

"I said stop looking at my hair!"

"Sorry, I'm just surprised that you're a girl…"

"Yeah… whatever. Hey… one question."

"Ask away"

"How in the world are you so strong? You are level… 41, and you can kill an Iron Hog in one hit!"

"Well, lets just say that Grendel likes me a lot."

"Nonsense. Even Grendel can't make you that strong at level 41. Come on, share some tips…"

"You really want to know?" Tom suddenly and asked seriously, subconsciously rubbing his gloved wrist. (He had once again bought new clothing and was still getting used to it. His red colored Starlight was mush heavier than his old Wizard Robe. His Dark Gullitian was so tall he frequently banged his head in low places. His dark Moonshoes were lighter and more comfortable than his old Jewelry shoes, and his purple Arten (once again made out of Wisdom Crystals) kept his fingers at a weird angle. The new Esther shield had used up almost all his money. Also, the Fairy Wand looked seriously weird. Only about a couple of million mesos were left after the purchase.)

"Erm…yes." Heji was quite surprised at Tom's sudden change of mood.

Leaning towards Heji, he pushed his glove up, revealing a silvery line of strange symbols glowing on his wrist. Tom was not really prepared for Heji's reaction.

"Huh? Whats that?"

"Nevermind… I guess you don't really know about history…"

"You're trying to say that you are the last descendant of some weird breed of people with extraordinary magical powers and that is your birthmark showing your power? (Oozing sarcasm)

"Well, more or less that…"

"Right…"

"Nevermind if you don't believe me…lets just go train." Tom was quite relieved that Heji did not know the meaning of that mark.

While training, Heji was racking her brains trying to remember where she had seen that mark before…she remembered it as a child, when she was in a crib and had seen it through the eyes of a mere baby. But where? Her memories as a baby were hazy, almost nonexistent. Lacking the brains of most mages, she could not remember. And what did Tom mean by "history"? She would look it up when she got home, she told herself. She would find out about the mysterious line of symbols that existed as a mere memory in her past.

Both Tom and Heji were not really concentrating on the monsters, as they were too busy thinking. Heji started faring better than Tom, as a bowman/bow-woman only needed to see the target and pull a string, and mages needed a lot of concentration to cast spells properly. Soon they stopped worrying and started to have fun while practicing.

"Hey… Tom! Stop using that Fire Arrow! You're embarrassing the good name of bowmen!"

"Oh yeah? Well, let me show you what a good arrow is!

"You're on!"

"Fire Arrow!"

"Arrow Bomb!"

"Lucky Seven!"

Get out of my story, assassins. Not your turn yet.

(Try to imagine this.)

When the two "arrows" struck each other, the fire in the Fire Arrow was blasted out by the bomb, causing a nice area effect, like a flaming Arrow Bomb. The nearby pigs and Hogs turned into temporary Fire Boars, if you get what I'm trying to say. If you don't, then what I'm trying to say is that the pigs got burnt. Tom's jet-black disheveled hair was partly singed by the blast though he was standing a good ten meters away.

"Nicceeeee…"

"I agree"

(By the way, if you haven't realized yet, they were at Pig Beach, near Lith Harbour)

Pretty soon Tom could feel a rush of energy leaving him. His Magic Guard must be becoming weak.

"Magic Guard!"

Tom, focusing his energy into his wand and he could feel a cold clammy sensation on his skin. He could sense the magical forces around him, protecting his physical health from damage, though he felt weaker after every hit he sustained. Tom always wondered why other people were not able to control their magical shields. He had always been able to vary the thickness of the magical shield around him, getting hit physically more often when he felt that he should conserve energy, and getting shields so thick that he sustained no damage at all. Tom had always been able to see magic as something more complex than focusing on some spell. He knew magic in its most basic forms, the environment. Magical energy came from anything in the environment, be it rock, water, grass or fire. Ahh, yes… Fire. Strangely, Tom had always been at home most with the element Fire. He would sit for hours in front of a fire, staring but not seeing, quietly absorbing the magical energy that emanated from one of the most useful elements ever known to man… Fire. According to the famous mathematician Iamsmart92 and his even more famous formula

X75.2K+(-0.3Y)

----------------------

-90KY

Basically, it meant that elements when absorbed are turned to negative by the positive magical electrons in the mage. Which meant that Fire works well on Ice.

DUH….

Anyway, back to the story.

Directly after he had cast Magic Guard, a Fairy materialized out of thin air, above Tom's head. Tom had never seen it before o.0

The fairy knocked down Tom's Gullitian over his dark brown eyes (Fifth time that day that happened) in her haste to get down his head.

"Thank god for casting that Magic Guard when you did."

"Huh?"

"Nevermind… I bring bad news…"

"What?"

"Grendel needs you. Urgently."

……

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FINALLY DONE… 

Sorry everyone for not doing this very short chappie on time, but with exams and all I really have a hard time writing in between my homework. Yes, I'm still studying in a school, if you can't tell from my writing that I'm just a kid

Sorry also for the mage-only humour, where other classes probably can't understand the part about " a Fairy materialized out of thin air, above Tom's head. Tom had never seen it before o.0"

And thanks Eien Kaosu, my faithful reader, for the emails and the offer to sketch the characters. If you hadn't noticed, I have already described Tom in this chapter.

SavageBlow I will fit you in as soon as possible, like I said, what I know about the storyline is not much more than everyone else.

I just realized that I kinda missed out Heji in the later part of this chapter. When I'm writing this it is exactly 9.54pm (+8GMT) and I haven't studied for an exam tomorrow, or done any homework for that matter. So, I shall leave this chapter as it is.

Remember that you guys can submit information about you characters if you want to put them in the story.

QUOTA IS 18 REVIEWS

(Exactly 1275 words on Microsoft Word)


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 of the much awaited Born to Burn.

Yes yes, I know its been a long time since I updated. Sorry for that…

Also, thanks to Judgment Flame for faves and alerts.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer:

Yeah. I do not own Maple. Maple HOOO!

Sorry… watching too much HG (Don't ask me what it is, it corrupts young minds.)

----------------------------------

"Thank god for casting that Magic Guard when you did."

"Huh?"

"Nevermind… I bring bad news…"

"What?"

"Grendel needs you. Urgently."

……

Chapter 73V3N: R1S3 0F TH3 L33T (TH15 H45 N0TH1NG T0 D0 W1TH TH3 5T0RY)

------

"Grendel? Wasn't he like dealing with this Naykum..Wakum…Zukum…Oh whatever that thing was in Chapter 4?" Tom didn't realize that he was thinking aloud.

"Wait a minute… you know where he went? It was supposed to be top secret!"

"I'm a mage right? I am supposed to be smart…"

"Hey what about me? Whatever trouble Grendel is in, I can help! Bowmen are strong y'know!"

"Wait wait… let the fairy speak… Whats the problem?"

"Well. The monster… Zakum I think... was more powerful then Grendel thought, and it ended up seriously injuring him, as well as Dances with Balrog and Athenea Peirce. Also, the Dark Lord on a secret mission to find out the origin of the Zakum returned with some startling news…"

"What?"

"Lets go somewhere safer before I tell you. Anyone of you have a house in Lith Harbour?"

"Yeah me… I spent some of my 10 mil to buy a house…"

"Mystic Door!"

Instantly a shimmering doorway materialized in front of them. Through the doorway, they could see a blurry picture of Lith Harbor.

"Come on! Lets go!"

'Wait… fairy… you can do that? Mystic Door is a third job skill!"

"Duh… of course I can."  
"Wow..."

They stepped through the doorway and found themselves standing on nothing but air. They looked down and saw the ground was far far away.

"Oh... I forgot to tell you that I just started learning how to do Mystic door… I don't really have control over where the door appears…"

"AHHHHH! $&))&097!5! (Bad Words!)"

And so they fell… and fell.. and fell.

The fairy was repeatedly casting spells to lessen their impact.

"Magic Guard! Magic Armor! Invincible! Bless!"

"SLOW U IDIOT! AHHHH!"

"Oh yeah… Slow!"

They slowed down, but not enough. The ground was sill moving fast.

"Mystic Door!"

A door suddenly appeared beneath them and they fell through it, appearing at another side of Lith Harbor, 3000 feet higher than before.

"Well, it was worth a try…"

"AHHHHH! $#!"

"Mystic Door!"

"Mystic Door!"

"Mystic Door!"

"Mystic Door!"

"Mystic Door!"

.…...

Few hours later…

"Oomph!" They finally were teleported somewhere near the ground, where they fell with a bump onto Mr. Kim, the storage man. He calmly extracted himself from the mass of tangled limbs and storage boxes, and continued asking no one in particular if they wanted a safe place to store items. Humph... NPCs are like that…

They finally went into Tom's house after finding the key that had fallen out of his pocket during one of the falls. (They found it John's fish bucket). The house was quite clean, as Tom only lived there for about a week since he bought the house somewhere in Chapter 4. The house was rather small but comfy, and had a nice view. You could see Pason and his small ship out of one window, and the storage area manned by Mr. Kim from the other side of the house.

Heiji and Tom sat down on blue chairs around a table, while the fairy fluttered overhead.

"So, what were we saying before we were so rudely interrupted by the Mystic Door madness?"

"I told you I'm sorry already! Oh… we were talking about some top-secret thing. As I quote from my previous statement, "Well. The monster… Zakum I think... was more powerful then Grendel thought, and it ended up seriously injuring him, as well as Dances with Balrog and Athena Pierce. Also, the Dark Lord on a secret mission to find out the origin of the Zakum returned with some startling news…"

"What?"

"Lets go somewhere safer before I tell you. Anyone of you have a house in Lith Harbour?"

Whoops. Copied too much.

"Har Har… so what's the news?"

" Well, the Dark Lord found out that this clan, ( I'm not too sure of the name) was the one that had manufactured the monster Zakum from the DNA of about all the monsters in the Maple World, including those in the Aqua Dungeon, and the Crimson Balrog. From intelligence reports (that the Dark Lord found scattered on a coffee table) the clan was keeping the Zakum for some propose… when Grendel, Dances with Balrog and Athena Pierce walked in to try to kill it."

The very atmosphere of the discussion suddenly turned more serious as the trio considered the possibilities of what the clan could do. After about 15 seconds Heiji broke the silence

"So… what's the purpose of creating the Pakum?"

"Zakum. No one knows yet. Come. You want to go and visit Grendel and the rest? They are in the Henesys Hospital.

"Sure"

"MYSTIC--"  
"Wait! I think we are better off walking."

"Good point."

"ROFLMAO"

They got up to eave, but at the door Heiji suddenly stopped them.

"Look," she smiled, pointing out of the window facing Mr. Kim.

A strong looking bandit, probably more than level 60, was sneaking up behind the storage cases, with a bunch of skeleton keys on a ring on his belt, partially hidden by his Dark Scorpio armor. What he was planning to do was obvious. (If you have no idea what was he going to do, he was going to steal from the storage boxes.)

"Watch this," Heiji muttered, pushing up the glass window, and aiming her gleaming Ryden at him.

"I'm going to shoot in front of him. He will probably be so scared that he would pee in his pants."

The tightly stretched bowstring twanged back with a soft sigh as the steel-tipped arrow flew softly through the wind. As always, Heiji's aim was true. The arrow was streaking towards a point about five centimeters away from the bandit's face.

Tom saw the bandit making a quick, blur movement without even slowing his walking speed. Suddenly he was holding a Deadly Fin in his used to be empty hand. The arrow lay on the ground, cut into seven pieces, the shattered arrowhead gleaming in the sun. The bandit looked directly at them and gave that kind of raised-eyebrow look.

"Woah… how did he do that?"

"Yeah, I can't raise just one eyebrow either… I gotta raise two at once…"

"No… I mean how did he slice the arrow so fast?"

"Look at his clothing guys… its obvious that he is very strong compared to us…"

"Yep. On the count of three, lets all say W00T. Three."

"Two"

"One"

"W000TT."

--------To Be Continued…---------

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Wow, I didn't realize that I spent so much time doing this chappie (I had exams and projects due). I promise to update faster next time. Try and guess who the mysterious Bandit is?

I know I left quite a large plot hole unsolved, about the Grendel getting injured part. I will fully describe their hospital visit in the next chappie. Thanks for reaching erm… about 400 hits! Yay!

Quota is 22 reviews. Hah! Catch 22! Lols…

Remember, Stay tuned for more exciting adventures in Born to Burn!


	8. Chapter 8

Born to Burn, chapter 8.

Okay… once again a very long time before I updated. Computer spoilt and had to retype the chapter. Between Maple and Homework, I'm starting to find that I don't have much time left for fanfiction. Rest assured that I will update, though it might be like a few weeks between updates.

Thanks Heiji for the nice sketch… I think I need to take drawing lessons…

Judgement Flame/Knuckx, I promise to put you guys into the story sooner or later.

ZackAttack, you can use the idea of Mystic Door for your story if you want. After all, Mystic Doors were created by Maplestory anyway.

---------------------------------------------

Disclaimer…

This story is done by TrojanPony, with some help from Hidden Street. Names such as Heiji and DaGreat1992 are properties of their respective owners, and don't sue me.

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"Yep. On the count of three, lets all say W00T. Three."

"Two"

"One"

"W000TT."

--------------------------------------

Chapter 8: A Visit to the Hospital (yay my first title that makes sense)

The bandit brandishing the Deadly Fin looked directly at them, mostly Heiji, because she fired the arrow. Forgetting the Storage Man, he started walking towards the trio(if you count the fairy), until he was standing directly in front of them, just separated by a wall and a window. If you thought about it, a little wall less than a foot thick is like wet tissue paper to the Deadly Fin. Heiji just stared up at the bandit through the window. (She was shorter than the bandit you see. Actually, you don't see. You read. Ha ha ha.)

Through the more or less soundproof wall the bandit could see the upstart bowman mouthing some words about where he could shove his Deadly Fin. The mage beside him sweat dropped and a small flying creature hovering above them flew behind a table.

Back inside the house…

"Heiji!"

"What?"

"Chill!"

"Oh."

"Shouldn't we like get to Henesys soon or something? At the rate we're going the 4 job leaders will probably recover before we get there!"

(Fairy): Oh well then. Mystic Door!

A shimmering doorway appeared, with a familiar scene visible through the door. Heiji and Tom didn't give it much thought and stepped through before the fairy remembered something.

"Oh –bleep-! Mystic Door teleports you to the nearest town! Whoops!"

F.Y.I they were in Lith Harbor.

The bandit, forgotten by the trio inside, saw them step into a magical doorway. Then he heard a thump behind him. Actually, two thumps, sounding just like body hitting brick hard. Which was what happened to Heiji and Tom.

"Ouch…"

"Yep… Ouch."

Heiji and Tom lay a couple of feet away from the Storage Man, who looked slightly off color but still was impassive.

"Need a hand?" The bandit had put his Deadly Fin in some hidden pocket like Freddie Fish.

"No need. I can get up on my- my Ryden! Phew…still okay…"

"Erm Heiji?"

"Yeah?"

"You realize that we are still lying on the ground after a 25-foor drop from the sky?"

"I almost forgot…25-foot drops are hard to remember after a while…"

"Get up Miss Sacarsm… Ow… I think something in my leg broke…"

"Miss?" The bandit, still standing there, was slightly amused. "You're female?"

"YES NOW SHUDDAP!" Heiji was getting very irritated by the chit-chat TrojanPony was putting her through.

"Chill man… relax…"

"Okay. Can we get to Henesys already? Sheesh."

"Henesys? My mum's in the hospital there as well! Maybe I should go with you guys."

"Okay. Hello. My name is Tom. She is Heiji. That fairy is…Fairy. Whats your name?"

"I AM NOT CALLED FAIRY!"

"Well, just call me DaGreat."

"And my proper name is FairyHeart87Pink…Nevermind. Just call me Fairy."

"Erm…LOL."

"So… can we like go there now?"

"Anyone got a scroll to Henesys?"

….

Silence…

Then a passerby walking past DaGreat dropped some scrolls by accident. Picking it up, he realized that they were 4 scrolls to Henesys.

"I got the scrolls."  
"Hey… how come you're so lucky?"

"Well… I am lucky…"

"He's a bandit. What do you think?"

"Ah well… I guess so."

Blah Blah Blah… Chitchat here and there…

Anyway, they finally went to the hospital. DaGreat went to see his mother, and the trio went to visit Grendel.  
"So… Why did you want to see me?"

"I…I want to tell you something…"

"What?"

"Well, you know the intelligence reports that the Dark Lord made?"

"Nope."

"Nevermind…just wanted to say that there is detailed information on the monster we have codenamed Zakum. Dark Lord has also found a clue about the people who had created this monster. "

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Find the monster. Destroy it. Visit Dark Lord if you want more detailed information. Bowman…"

"Call me Heiji."

"Heiji… this is a very difficult task. I suggest that you do not try it. Only Tom has the potential to complete this task.

"Oh yeah? Now see here old fellow, my mentor Athena Peirce is also lying in another bed here, but at least she tried. If I don't even try to destroy… Zakum… then I will disgrace the name if Hunters. I will follow Tom, and help him to defeat the monster."

"erm… whatever…cough cough…NURSE WHERE'S MY MANA ELIXER!"

Behind the doorway, a figure partly obscured by shadows smirked, then disappeared in a cloud of magic.

A trip to Kerning City gave Heiji and Tom the intel reports that the Dark Lord wrote. Before that, DaGreat and Fairy parted ways with them to do their own…stuff. The report outlined Zakum's characteristics, as well as some documents stolen from Zakum's lair.

_Intelligence Report: Top Secret._

_-------_

_The fearsome creature codenamed Zakum has eight arms, and is shaped like a tribal stone statue. The creature stays stationary, and the only moving part are the arms. Each arm possesses a different power, and all are extremely dangerous. It is impossible to do a high damage on Zakum, and it has a very long endurance. Each arm has to be destroyed separately. _

_There are many different types of attacks, one for each arm. For example, an arm can cast fire, and another can summon monsters. This is but an example of the Zakum's power._

_Attached Document:_

_O: Zakum Test #832_

_Zakum #832's results are promising, after many tries. Arm activity is minimal, but various elements are seen to be radiating from each of the six arms. This is like what the Leader wanted, but only much weaker. More experiments would have to be done._

_O:Zakum Test #1094_

_Found it! Turns out that dropping a fire powered arm into the lava of Bain's Lair can magnify the magical power of the arm by a thousand-fold if held in extremely high pressure for a long time. Calculations have been made and the arm has to be at a depth of ten kilometers under lava, for more than twenty-four hours, to increase the power by a thousand fold. My Hypothesis is that the deeper and longer you hold it down there, the more power it has. Similarly, an ice-element arm needs to be frozen at negative 8000 Celsius or more, for the power to be signifigantly increased. More tests would have to be conducted to find out what matter or chemical can be used as a freezing element._

_O: Zakum Test #1169_

_We did it! Made the elemental attacks stronger than before. Icicicum Germanium Sulfide was the perfect element to freeze the arm! With this success, we added two more arms, one with remote-access monster fragmenter, which basically creates monsters. Fiendishly difficult to make the arm that lowered everything to 1, but through infrared radiation off the highly-radioactive lava walls I managed to make it work with just a press of a button._

_Created a submersible strong enough to withstand the heat and pressure so deep down in lava. Just sent in the submersible to put in the arm at the correct depth. Maybe it can even find and retrieve the ultra-scrolled Dimon Wand I dropped inside the lava by accident last week_

_End of document._

_-----------------_

1 day later….

Tom and Heiji were still in Henesys, purchasing better equipment and buying warm clothes for the long trip to El Nath. Good thing Tom had some money left from that Varuna in the earlier chapters. They were just buying spare potions when they bumped into a familiar-looking bandit.

"Hi DaBig!"

"DaGreat you nimcompoop…"

"Whatever… what brings you here?

"Re-poting"

"Us too. How's your mother?"

"She's fine really… just a minor---what the heck?"

A cold gust of wind had blown through the closed door and chilled the trio to the very bone.

"What the heck was that? (Shivers)"

"Watch out everybody… it's strong dark magic…"

Everybody shivers….

And the thatched roof of the Henesys Potion Shop was swept away by a gigantic seven-clawed hand. Bits of straw fluttered down onto the three people staring in disbelief at the now-visible sky. A very large head blocked the sunlight out as it gazed down into the half-demolished shop.

_Crimson Balrog._

But this time different.

For this Crimson Balrog was bigger, meaner, and wore armor, and held a giant sword that could smash a couple of buildings with one hit. (You guys ever seen He-Man? Sword was something like that)

But the most disturbing thing about that refined Crimson was the O. A large O decorated in flaming red, circled by strange glowing sliver symbols, on the chest plates that the Balrog wore.

Even more strange, Tom had seen that O, and those symbols before.

He had it on his arm.

The Balrog swung his sword around lazily, seeming quite bored with the little punk before him who was less than half his level. The sword did not hit anything, but the wind it produced caused various roofs to shudder.

That woke the passerbys up from their shock. The lower leveled people screamed and ran away, (Those below level 70) The higher levels stayed back to fight, and the REALLY low leveled people (Level 8-15) tried to hit the Balrog.

Soon, Tom, Heiji, DaGreat and five level 90 people were trying to kill the Crimson Balrog

The Balrog swung his mighty sword.

Correction: Tom, Heiji, and FOUR level 90 people were trying to kill the Crimson Balrog.

Oops, make that two.

Anyway, about a minute later, Tom retreated back, and pulled Heiji along.

"Hey! Lemme at it!"

"Don't be crazy. You can barely hit it and you are thinking of killing it, look at your wounds!"

"Oh. Ouch."

"That's better. Anyway, I also want to fight. See those symbols on the balrog, I have read this really interesting book about zero, and it said many different translations for those symbols. In fact, there…"

"Cut.To.The.Point."

"Yep. You remember that Fire-Arrow-Bomb thing we tried in chapter 6? Why not give it a shot?"

"Oh yeah… sure, nothing else to do except get killed…"

"Just go.."

When they came back to the Balrog, the three remaining people had transformed into floating white figures.

"Go get em' kid"

"Remember where you kept your potions. You will need them a lot. A LOT."

Dagreat: "I guess that my mum will want some company in the hospital..."

"okay guys, I wont let you down."

"Lets Go!"

"FIRE ARROW!"

"ARROW BOMB!"

-------------------------------

As the two different attacks streaked towards a point on the Balrog's armored face, the two heroes of the story hoped that this attack would work where many others have failed…

----------------

To be continued….

Yeah Yeah… I spent a long time doing this… I'm so sorry ok? My computer spoilt and I had to change the hard drive…and ended up installing Halo on my computer, which is my current main game now. (At least until I complete the campaign on Legendary) So, reviews are obviously welcomed and I once again thank all of you for making so many reviews 4 me! Yay!

Special mention goes to:

1. AmayaRainStorm

2. Eien Kaosu

3. Inspector Marth

4. Judgment Flame

5. Saiyuki Tasuke

6. Sith Worshipper

7. ZackAttackIsBack

For favorites, and

1. AmayaRainStorm

2. Eien Kaosu

3. Judgment Flame

4. Saiyuki Tasuke

For Alerts.

Also, Sith Worshipper (again!) For supporting me and my both stories in both Runescape and Maple. Thanks! BTW, whats your world and username in Maple?

And Obviously, Eien Kaosu, for her undying support and reviews for all of my chappies. You Rock!

This will also be the chapter that breaks past 10k words! Yay!

Hmm…quota's 30 reviews. TY so much. Muakz!

Microsoft Word states that this is 2067 words including this sentence. 0.O.. 6 pages on MS word…


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9, Born to Burn, By Trojan Pony.

Nice fic Heiji!  
Nice fic BandofThief!

Nice Fics Calladus1!

Nice (And Very Random) Fic Zackattack!

I ran through my Reviews page and looked at everyone's stories. Nice work everyone!

A new character will be introduced today, at the end of the chapter.

--------------

Disclaimer:

FOR THE LAST TIME, I DO NOT OWN MAPLE!...okay, maybe not the last time.

If any weapon and Skill info is mentioned in this chappie, it would be from Hidden Street.

Heiji's info is from Eien Kaosu, and DaGreat1992 is from Kyuubi-Dono

-------------------------

Chapter 9: Killing the Balrog, and meeting someone.

"FIRE ARROW!"

"ARROW BOMB!"

As the two different attacks streaked towards a point on the Balrog's armored face, the two heroes of the story hoped that this attack would work where many others have failed

----------------------------------

Well, it didn't work.

Hah! Betcha didn't expect that!

The armor was made to withstand much more than just some fire. Heck, even the face was made to withstand much more than just some fire.

But it did make the monster mad.

And when a large, armored Crimson Balrog is mad, it is not a good sign.

Especially if the abovementioned Crimson Balrog is holding a giant sword.

Not a good sign indeed.

The Crimson Balrog roared and started slashing faster, stronger. The duo started running backwards while attacking. It was much harder for Heiji (who had by now changed to her Vaulter 20K) to pull out an arrow from the cross-dimensional warp that made invisible inventories possible, fit it on the bowstring, aim, and let go, while running at an angle to gain distance from a certain monster, than Tom, who ran and mumbled words and waved a stick, while running like Heiji. However, Tom being a mage needed to concentrate harder on the spells, and so fell down twice already.

While running, Heiji vaguely noticed that they were getting closer to the Henesys main town. Oh no… if the Balrog got into town….

But suddenly a voice boomed out just outside the Marketplace entrance.

"Tom! Try to boost me up!" DaGreat.

"Huh?" Tom turned around to see a large blue mushroom cap flying towards him. Catching it in his hands, he was about to ask something when DaGreat came jumping on the mushroom cap like a springboard. Tom nearly fell over. But DaGreat had bounced of the springboard/mush cap, and was heading for the Balrog's head. He started slashing like crazy with his Deadly Fin (soooo movie style) as he fell.

Savage Blow!

Savage Blow!

Savage Blow!

Savage Blow!

Savage Blow!

Ouch.

Anyway, those attacks had left cracks on the Balrog's armor from its head to its left foot, where DaGreat had promptly died when he landed on the Balrog's toes.

Heiji: "Quick! Attack while it's weak!"

Tom: "Take that you beast! Fire Arrow! Oh, sorry DaGreat, you died again…"

DaGreat: "No problem! Anyway I just leveled up yesterday so I don't have much to lose!"

However, the symbols on the Balrog's chest armor glowed white briefly, and the cracks in the armor somehow magically sealed back. The Balrog gave the closest thing to a smile that it could have managed, and proceeded to swing a lamppost-sized sword at them. Fortunately, the lucky Tom and the dexterous Heiji managed to dodge it. (Get it? Get it? Luck and Dex? Hahaha…nevermind.)

------------------------

Tom's POW (whoops, I meant POV)

"Hmm, what's going on with the armor? The symbols, the O, the Order, that book, my Father's death… all mixed up together in a weird story that hopefully Trojan Pony will resolve by the time he tires of this story. Now there's this crazy Balrog that is wearing armor, that is swinging a large sword down the streets of Henesys chasing after people less than half his level. In fact, Balrogs or any other monsters are not supposed to pop up in Town, unless you have a Summoning Sack which I happen to know that Trojan Pony has used up already. Furthermore, you need a Black Sack to summon Crimson Balrog, albeit one without armor…

Focus.

Okay.

According to the book _"Really Difficult Magical Theories Made More Confusing" _written by Purplepop, level 140+ Ice/Lit, it is stated that _"Any magic curses and summoned monsters can be manipulated by a mage with a higher skill level, intelligence and mastery over the monster/curse, but only if the person has attempted to cast the spell specifically onto the abovementioned mage, or a group of people including the abovementioned mage. However, manipulation is limited to the original power of the skill when cast by the weaker mage. _

_In other words for really n00b pple, "strong guy control weak guy spell"._

Maybe it could work for the magical symbols! After all, aren't they magic?

Wow, so cliché. But it could work!

After all, there was nothing to lose.

Or was there?

No idea.

--------End of POV----

So, Tom tried to take off his glove, but amidst running, jumping, dodging, and concentrating on spells, he found it really hard to multitask. So, he did something he always read in Fanfiction containing funny symbols.

Tom concentrated on the power he knew existed under the Purple Penance that he wore. He had grown 15 levels since his level (41) was mentioned in chapter 4. Now he was level 56, stronger, smarter, and still able to finance himself with the 10 mil and other stuff he got from training.

Wearing a Dark Golden Circlet and White Calas, not only did he look very Zen, but also powerful. The Purple Gold-Winded Shoes and the Meso-eating Esther Shield added a nice touch. Of course, the Purple Penance did very well to increase his magical attacks due to the Wisdom Crystals in them. The Thorns looked kinda threatening, too.

Anyway, back to the story.

Tom concentrated on the power he knew existed under the Purple Penance that he wore. Focusing, he could actually see his glove glow bright purple. He felt a giant surge of power course through his body like an electric shock. Tom almost screamed out a spell to release the huge amount of power inside him, but he knew that he needed to control the impulse. Focus. That was the watchword of the day.

Now directing as much of the power as he could into his newly-purchased Thorns, he pointed the tip at the Balrog. The Thorns glowed at the head and started shaking.

The Balrog was dumb, but it knew power when it saw it. The Balrog backed off a few steps, or hovers.

Having no idea what to do, Tom just stood there and held the staff forward while Heiji and a few onlookers just waited patiently. Trying to remember something, anything, to say that would be able to control the Balrog, according to the magical theories. Suddenly he had a flash of inspiration.

The prophecy!

_You are looking for a flying arrow with ancient sword and the missing armor of steel…_

_The priest, gone to an empty battle unfulfilled and lifeless_

_A growing year, with burnin' lines of ivory is the key_

_He is the prophecy that will shake the world, that will destroy. _

Using his authority as the person who "will shake the world," he might be able to control the Balrog!

And so Tom announced loudly…

"I am Tom, child of the prophecy! Bow down before me and acknowledge that I am the Keeper of the symbols that you now wear! Also… I…I can beat the living hell out of you!"

Suddenly, things began to happen.

Firstly, a silvery light erupted from the Thorns, and struck the symbols on the Balrog's armor. The symbols changed from sliver to yellow, the color of the Thorns head.

But instead of bowing to Tom, the symbols, armor and sword cracked, then crumbled into dust. The now-normal Balrog reared back, roared, and beams of dark energy shot out from him. Falling from the sky, Balrog thudded onto the ground, and looked close to death. Well, the theory was half-wrong, about the controlling part.

Tom looked at the fallen Crimson Barlog and calmly drew power from his writs again. With his hands and staff glowing, he pointed the staff at the Balrog and…

"FIRE ARROW!"

The Fire Arrow, casted with so much power, looked like a horizontal Explosion spell with an arrowhead. It completely overwhelmed the Balrog and turned a few nearby demolished buildings into roaring pyres. The onlookers clapped appreciatory.

Then Tom collapsed. Suddenly, the effort he had to use to cast the two spells came back to him, and he was overcome with exhaustion. The last thing he saw was a concerned female Cleric wearing a Flame circlet and Heart earrings peering down at him. Tom tried to think of a pun about Flame circlets and Clerics but he blacked out before he could do so.

----------------------------------------

T.B.C, obviously.

Try to guess who is the female Cleric? Hint: Read the reviews page and see the third person that put her name down.

Some of you might be asking why DaGreat has such little mention so far, mainly because I don't know any new info about him. (He only reviewed once.) DaGreat, if you are reading this, then tell me the new info about your character so that I can make it have more personality.

Thanks for the 769 hits I currently have, and the 31 reviews, 7 faves, 4 alerts.  
Exams coming in a couple of weeks. Updates will either be faster or slower. (Faster because I can go home earlier after that day's exams are over)

I don't think that I should impose any more quotas, because you guys are so enthusiastic that you pass my quota long before I get started with the next chapter. Of course, I still want consistent increase : )

Well, that's all folks, tune in again to another exciting episode of Born to Burn!

(1654 words on MS word, including this sentence.)


	10. Chapter 10

Ah well. The first two-digit chapter of Born to Burn! Chapter 10!!!

I just realized that my end-of-year examinations started on Friday the Thirteen. Creepy...

Anyway, that means that I have an excuse of why I did not update for such a long time. As Heiji said, over a month. Rest assured though, since the whirlwind of exams, going through papers, etc are finally over, I am able to update rather fast now. Hopefully.

Judgement Flame, you guessed right! It's you that appears in this chapter (though not for much)

And so, on to my disclaimer.

-----------------------------

Disclaimer:

Today, my evil minons have informed me that the plan to take over Wizet was a failure. This means that I still do not own Maple. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow…

Also, the bags of groceries mentioned later was bought from Hidden Street Shopping Centre, so the info about the food is theirs.

---------------------------------

The last thing he saw was a concerned female Cleric wearing a Flame circlet and Heart earrings peering down at him. Tom tried to think of a pun about Flame circlets and Clerics but he blacked out before he could do so.

--------------------------------

Chapter 10: Meeting Kirr

--------

_Darkness._

_Alone._

_I must be dreaming…_

_This is not a dream, young one…_

_Argh! Who are you!_

_It is not who I am, but who you are…_

_I don't understand…_

_You will in the future._

_Can you at least show yourself?_

_No. There is no need…Tom._

_Okayyy… How did you know my name?_

_You do not need to know. Just remember your mission…_

_Mission? What mission?_

_ARGH! TO DESTROY THE FRIGGING PAKUM!_

_Zakum._

_That's what I said!_

_Did not._

_Did to._

_Did not._

_Did to._

_Did to._

_Did not._

_HA!_

_Okay this is lame. Can you just let me finish my speech?_

_Sure._

_Remember that you still a lot to learn about that mark on your wrist._

_Yes, I know. The prophecy. Will I really grow up to destroy the entire Maple World?_

_That is for you to decide. The prophecy can be read in many ways…_

_So what other meaning does the prophecy have?_

_This I cannot tell you…but I do have one word of advice…_

_What?_

_Every beginning is an end… and every end is also a beginning…_

_Sigh…those cryptic voices always say those philosophical stuff…_

_Tom, you are supposed to ask me a question…_

_Oh sorry…so how do I harness the energy of my mark thingiy?_

_Tsk tsk… So many questions…so little time…_

"Wait!"

Sitting bolt upright like he just woke up from a nightmare, Tom looked around, as if trying to find the thing that had spoken to him in his dreams. Nothing.

However, he did see that he was in a room. With light blue walls. With a pink bed. And a large shelf full of books. A quick look out the window confirmed that he was still in Henesys. In a small wall mirror, he saw that his head, arms and chest was bandaged.

His arms…

His gloves and hat were neatly laid out on a bedside table. Tom was going to grab them when a familiar looking Cleric walked in.

"Hey…aren't you that female cleric I was going to make a pun about?"

"Huh?"

"Nevermind…is this your house?"

"Yeah. You're Tom right? Heiji and DaBig (A voice shouted in the distance "DAGREAT!") told me. Name's Judgment. Just call me Kirr though.

"Hi Kirr. Where's Heiji?"

"Went to buy something…nice tattoo you have on your wrist, by the way."

".;;…Anyway, sorry to bother you for …"

"You were out cold for two days"

"Sorry to bother you for two days, and I must be on my way anyway. I'm okay now."

"Don't…"

Tom tried to stand up, but ends up doubling over in pain and falling on a floor like the main character in an idol drama series who was hospitalized after holding off a band of thugs.

"I told you not to move! Do you know how much mana you spent to cast that spell?"

"No…groan"

"Well neither do I, but it must have been mighty huge to knock you out. For two days. Playing around with the magical forces of this earth is very dangerous. In fact, seeing that magnitude of that attack of yours, I'm surprised that you didn't already die from mana overusage."

"So Doctor, how long must I be hospitalized?"

"Har har. I'm not sure how long, but at least five more days. Meanwhile, you want anything to eat? After all you must be starving after two days."

"I thought the shops was destroyed…"

"The 24-hour Mobile Van is staying here until the shops are repaired."

"Oh… what about the hospital? I remember that the Balrog hit it during the fight…"

"It's okay… luckily the Balrog hit the mostly empty accommodation block. That means that there was no space for you in the hospital, which is why you are staying in the house of the resident cleric. So do you want to eat anything or not?"

"Nependeath's Honey."

"Haha. I'll find something else for you. Meanwhile don't try anything stupid."

"Sure."

Kirr flicked her hair back and left. Tom reached for the gloves.

Presently Heiji came back, with two large shopping bags. She dumped them in front of Tom, who was reading a book.

"Well then, I bought the rest of the stuff we might need for El Nath. Hmm… Instant Red Bean Soup, warm clothing, weapons, and enough food to last us a week if we are ever stranded outdoors. Luckily for us, just about the entire town recognized me as the person who helped you fight off the Balrog, so they paid for almost all of our expenses."

"That's good. So did you buy maps of El Nath?"

"Not much use… the whole place is white, we wouldn't recognize any landmarks from the map alone…"

"By the way, where is DaGreat?"

"Dunno… I think he went to buy some stuff for his mom."

While discussing the trip with Heiji, Kirr came back.

"Well then, I bought the just about all the stuff you might need to eat for lunch. Hmm… A 12-pack of Evian™ Pure Water, a Red Bean Sundae, 2 bowls of Miso Ramen, a few plates of Salad, Grape and Orange Juice, and for appetizer, a few slices of Watermelon. Luckily for us, just about the entire town recognized me as the person who helped you fight off the Balrog, so they paid for almost all of our expenses.

Tom looked at the bulging bags of food on the table, and said,

"That's all you bought?"

-----------------------------------------------------

Well, that's just about what I can say for Tom, because' he has to rest for five days and visiting hours are over. Now the scene switches to the imaginary bad guys, who are just Begging for a spot in my story. Be warned if one of you guys appear as a baddie in the later chapters.

-------------------------------------

He paced the floors of his underground house, deep in thought, a fireplace cackling merrily in a corner. No, "Merrily" was not the right way to describe the fire. Perhaps "evilly". Nah.

He paced the floors of his underground house, deep in thought, a fireplace cackling fiercely in a corner, as though it reflected his innermost thoughts, dark and foreboding. The house carved out of rock, well heated by the Earth's geothermal energy, was cozy in spite of the large size of it. The rooms were well decorated by most standards, with a few paintings (some people recalled seeing them in museums before), and one could see that it belonged to a strong master. There, a multitude of weapons for all classes hung on the walls, mostly for ornate purposes, but some say that there were blood on the swords and lances that hung around in the house. It was a mystery no one had ever confirmed. Rumor has it that people who tried to enter his chambers without permission all disappeared without a trace. Despite the many mysteries surrounding him, he was still well respected, both in the underground and legal networks, no questions asked.

He was their leader.

He was rich beyond all measure, his wealth never compromised. It was he who ordered the construction of the underground liar, he who financed the numerous experiments behind the secret doors of the laboratory. It was he, who bought all the tools, weapons, armor, for all of his various followers, without even thinking of the cost. And boy, did he buy weapons. Most of the members of the guild held Kages, Devil's Sunrise's, Vifennis, Leomites, Metus's, Varkit's, Fairfrozens, Hellslayers etc etc. With the amount of members increasing by the hundred every week, it was hard to imagine where he got the money from.

He was their leader.

They had never seen his face. Always sticking to the shadows, with his hood pulled low over his face, only his slight built gave a clue of what class he was. He was definitely not a warrior, or a bandit, or his built and at least arms would be much thicker. He could be either a bowman, assassin, or magician, but no one knew for certain, since he was never seen with a weapon. However, his long flowing cloak might be able to hide small objects, like throwing stars, or wands. However, his soft, refined manner of speech had no trace of the street's rough accent or slang one invariably picked up from the dark Kerning City. There could only be one class left, that of a mage.

This was how his followers scrutinized him behind his back. Picking up subtle clues from his behavior, almost everyone agreed that he was most likely a magician. He, however, pretended not to hear, and went on with his tasks alone in his large house, occasionally walking to the lower pits to observe the construction, and even more occasionally personally talking to stronger members of his guild. They did not reveal what he said to them, but they would swiftly rise up the ranks (and paycheck) after the talk. Thus "The Talk", as they called it, was highly coveted. Those who supposedly knew him personally all said that he never lost his temper.

Today, he was angry.

He was seething under his cool exterior, but he made no display of it. He was incensed at how the incompetence of his followers at fulfilling tasks. He had told fifty of his stronger followers to eliminate the boy in the prophecy, and what did they do? They sent a puny Crimson Balrog. Sure, it was wearing armor and had a weapon (courtesy of his armory), but didn't they know that a Crimson was nothing to a child of the Prophecy? No, of course they didn't. Even the boy… Tom, that was his name… didn't know of his power.

Until two days ago.

The bungling fools had once again compromised his perfect plans, and he hated his plans being compromised. The level 16x Dragon Knight he put in charge of the botched mission had screamed for a long time before dying, he reflected. Now Tom would have most likely escaped from Henesys. Heck, he could be anywhere from Maple Island to Ludibrium…

Just then, there was a knock on the door. He hurried to open it. It was the messenger he had sent to Henesys to get clues to where Tom was currently.

"Good news Sir…"

"What is it?"

"Tom is severely injured and in a cleric's house."

"Where?"

"A Cleric's house Sir…"

"I mean where is the house?"

"In Henesys Sir…"

Heaven/hell must be watching over me, he thought. He had totally forgot that Tom, being such an inexperienced mage, had not learnt to control the flow of his mana properly. Tom should be dead from the mana overexertion already. He had heard of the power of that Fire Arrow, and he knew that if normal mages could cast that spell the mana usage would kill them. He also knew that with Tom virtually useless now, the cleric, bowman, and bandit that was reported to be with Tom could not hope to hold off even one of his strike team members.

"Call S. Team A3 to report here in five minutes."

"Okay sir."

The messenger went out, and soon he could here him announcing into the entire cavernous map with the specially mounted Megaphone

" All members of Strike Team A3 report to Leader's Waiting Room in five minutes. I repeat: All members of Strike Team A3 report to Leader's Waiting Room in five minutes- no… now four minutes."

He went up to the messenger and whispered a few words, and the messenger took the megaphone again.

"Correction: All members of Strike Team A3, GET YOU'RE A55E5 to the Leader's Waiting Room NOW!"

(Pls don't ban this)

The 20 members of Strike Team A3 appeared at the door 30 seconds later.

The team consisted of:

1 Cursader

2 Dragon Knights

3 Snipers

3 Rangers

3 Fire Poison Mages

3 Ice Lighting Mages

1 Priest

3 Hermits

1 Chief Bandit

(By the way, in this story unlimited number of people can be in a party)

----

"You know why I placed you in such a group, but for the benefit for all the people reading this now I will repeat why. Your group, Strike Team A3, is specially formulated for swift kills of multiple enemies, which is why there are only 4 melee attackers. The C.Bandit is for their skill of Meso Explosion, and the three warriors are for backup in case something goes wrong. Normally, your team is used for bigger spaces for attack, and actually one person would have sufficed for this operation, but I wanted to be VERY sure that they will die."

Drawing a sketch of the target- a small cottage, he pointed out the features of the house from which they could attack. It was a simple house, with a window on either side of the front door, with a window by the back door. That meant 6 points of attack: 3 windows, 2 doors, and the roof which they were going to blow away.

"Now here's the plan. First, you sneak up to the house, using disguises such as noob level 20 clothes, then the 3 Fire Poison Mages would go to each window. An Ice Lighting Mage will take each door and the remaining one just stand aside. Of the 6 Bowmen, 2 will be attacking through the door: 1 Ranger and 1 Sniper. The Ranger will cast either Arrow Bomb or Strafe, and the Sniper will be Strafing. The remaining 4 will cast Arrow Rain and Arrow Eruption simultaneously on signal. The 3 Hermits will be at the back of the house, getting ready to Flash Jump over the roof and drop 50k each into the house. Now that the placing is settled, the plan is thus:

------

On a given signal, the Fire Poison Mages will break the 3 windows, and cast Poison Mist into the house a few times, while the 3 Ice Lit mages cast Lightning, and the 2 Bowmen will attack through the door.

After a few seconds, the F/P mages will cast a few Explosions, and the roof of the house should be destroyed. The 3 Hermits will Flash Jump over the roof, dropping 50k as they go, then the C.Bandit will explode the 150k mesos. Then, the whole group will cast whatever they want, like DK a few Roars, F/P Explosion and Mist, I/L Ice Strike, Priest Shining Ray, and then the Priest will summon a Mystic Door to the Town Centre, where a cab would be waiting for them to bring them to Ellinia and the Ship to Orbis, where you will be back in El Nath in less than 3 days after they left it. The funny thing is, the operation will take about 20 seconds, but the entire journey would take days."

Gasps for breath

"Good plan Sir!"

"Of course it's good. Now go to my armory and select any weapon or clothing you might need for the operation, such as disguises and such."

"Yes Sir:)"

"Wait!"

"Yes Sir!"

"Don't take too much Cash Shop stuff..."

"Yes Sir:("

"Remember… you set off tomorrow, and I expect to hear good news!"

"Yes Sir!"

"Shut. Up."

"Yes…Oh."

"Good. Now go."

After the group left, he sat in silence for a while, brooding over the situation.

"I'm hungry."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aha! A Cliffhanger! I can never resist those… Who is the mysterious He? I have no idea as well, as I have yet to think of a name for him. Read the very long footnote!

Well…. Here it is… Sorry for the long absence from FanFiction. Though this is VERY LONG for my standards, I know that I have spent quite a long time for this. However, ironically the reason I didn't work on my Maple Fanfic was because I was Mapling. I managed to level up 14 levels since I started this FF. Now I'm level 44…and hopefully I can say more about you Kirr and Heiji… and also maybe another character in the next chapter. However, don't expect the next chappie too soon, as I'm going on holiday from Monday till the end of December. That's 10 days, plus 3 days for packing!

Have fun Mapling! (Especially for MSea because of the new Zipangu Town)

Cheers, and happy Christmas in advance!

P.S

I just wrote stuff in my Profile!

And also I want to thank all of you, for hitting 41 reviews, 1058 hits, and… that's about all. Heh.

Also, I highly recommend Heiji's Omoide No Kakera!

And, as a final thing to add, if anyone wants to be one of the baddies please apply for the job!

------

Okie, sorry for the long footnote.

Mysterious He: "Shut. Up."

Got it… Me signing out.

P.P.S

Mysterious He: "ARGH!"

Wait… one more sentence…

This story is brought to you by the letter T, and the number 9…

Wrong one…. There are total of 3036 words in this story, including those below.

Mysterious He: "Wait… was that first sentence from Sesame Street? I like Sesame Street… (starts singing theme song)"

……

And Finally, the END.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 of Born to Burn, by Trojanpony.

Hi everyone. I'm back from my hols', with new ideas from my 10-day long stint without even looking at a computer. I still wince at the horror.

Anyways, I would start with saying sorry to KIIR (That's the correct spelling right?) for spelling her name Kirr instead of Kiir. Yea. And also ZackAttack, I do not have AIM nor want to divulge any personal stuff, and I'm from Singapore. Don't my sentences contradict each other? You see, first I say that I don't have AIM and do not want to divulge any personal stuff, but then in the same sentence I divulged personal stuff. Well actually there is not much personal stuff, as Singapore is home to millions of people, and all of them added together is not really personal and…

Random person: "SHUT THE &$)#& UP!"

Ok.

And basically everyone who reads my little FF, for not updating for so long (like a whole 2 months!). Writer's block, see.

Also congrats to Maplesea for releasing the 4th world Delphinus! (is that the spelling?)Stay in Bootes folks!

By the way, this chapter will explain some of the stuff Eien Kaosu PMed me, so when she releases Chapter 3 don't say that she copied me or whatever.

ShadowArch will feature briefly in this chapter. (He has priority as he is the ONLY bad character)

Now on to more serious stuff, such as disclaimers.

-----------------------

DISCLAIMER (OBVIOUSLY)

I own Trojanpony/NAKAMARA/me, as well as this story, (though mostly a slipshod combination of various fics I have read). The rest of the characters like Heiji, and KIIR, as well as DaBig…DaGreat I do not own. Whatever info about items or weapons or monsters came from Hidden Street, who got the info from Maplestory.

---------------------------------------

"Remember… you set off tomorrow, and I expect to hear good news!"

"Yes Sir!"

"Shut. Up."

"Yes…Oh."

"Good. Now go."

After the group left, he sat in silence for a while, brooding over the situation.

"I'm hungry."

--------------------------

Chapter 11: Escape!

A large group of people who looked like teenagers/children stepped off the ship that had returned from the long trip to Ossyria. They looked rather young and inexperienced for being out of Victoria Island. Maybe that's the reason they came back. Judging by their pretty lousy equipment, they looked too weak to be running round Sleepywood, much less Ossyria. A young archer who looked fresh out from Athena's school (First Job, mind you), he bounced around with all the bubbly excitement of a kid with a new toy.

The rest of the 20-strong crowd, though wearing equipment of about that level, just milled around looking bored, embarrassed even.

The archer burst into the Sesame Street Theme song, really off-tune.

"Sunny Day, Sing along! Clap your hands! On our way, to where the air is free! Lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala…."

Another kid piqued up.

"Shut it ShadoArch…there's no one here and you don't have to really act like a total retarded n00b."

"Yeah, but Sir told us to make it convincing."

"Sigh…whatever… you lead the way then."

"Yay! Then Letsa'go!"

Now humming the Mario song, he bounced off, stopping occasionally to "Can I plz have 10k plzplz?" people. Shaking their heads and sighing, the rest of Strike Team A3 followed ShadoArch.

-------------------------------

A few hours ago, at Kiir's house…

(From Heiji's POV)

I looked at Tom, who was peacefully sleeping, still wrapped in bandages.

_Poor Tom_, I thought, though I was about his age. _You have no idea what's going on. You have only a small inkling of what's to come in our quest._

When I met Tom for the first time, I already knew he was special. Not just by his looks of course, heh heh. I could feel the power he possessed, and moreover the necklace Grendel gave me was somehow pulling me towards him. I knew then, he was the child of the prophecy. When he showed me that mark on his wrist, I almost fell over, but I kept in control, luckily. I can still remember his exact words…

Leaning towards me, he had moved his glove up, revealing a silvery line of strange symbols glowing on his wrist that I recognized as the mark of the prophecy. Keeping my cool, I managed to take a deep breath.

"Huh? Whats that?"

"Nevermind… I guess you don't really know about history…"

Tom must have known about the prophecy! But whatever info he had gotten, It most probably wasn't much, as it was the 4 Wise Leaders who combined powers to produce a prophecy that would ensure that justice would prevail even after their death. And the 4 were the only people to know of the exact nature of the prophecy, other than me, having phrased it in a misleading, negative way to confuse people.

_You are looking for a flying arrow with ancient sword and the missing armor of steel…_

_The priest, gone to an empty battle unfulfilled and lifeless_

_A growing year, with burnin' lines of ivory is the key_

_He is the prophecy that will shake the world, that will destroy. _

I slowly reread the prophecy from memory. I thought about how Trojan Pony sucked at writing prophecies. That, and how poor Tom probably thought that he would grow up into the Armageddon.

But why did he agree to go against the Order? If he did know that that guild was the Order. He probably did, seeing that the giant O was a pretty large clue.

Or…

Maybe he knew of the Order's power and has a death wish, to prevent himself from "destroying" the Maple world in the future! If he really misinterpreted the prophecy like that…

I got up to hide the knives.

After safely storing them in my inventory (So Tom would not be able to get them), I started thinking on another track.

Perhaps, Tom indeed knew everything, and was willing to take up the challenge, to destroy the Order! From what I've seen of him and that Balrog, he certainly possessed the guts.

On the other hand, he did almost die.

Nah… I'll wait for a while more to tell him what the prophecy really meant. No use scaring him off before he fulfilled his destiny.

Once again, as I did just about every other day, I get flashbacks about the strange occurrences that had led to my existence here in the first place.

Update--- Due to the EXTREMELY CONFUSING issue about Heiji's past, I have decided to postpone this till later. Sorry.

------------------------------------------

(End of flashback)

(From Kiir's POV now…)

That was an impressive attack. Shocking how a level 56… No.. level 57 (He had leveled after killing that Balrog) could kill a Crimson Balrog E.X in one hit. However, he seems to be unable to control his Mana flow properly. Either that or it was his first time casting a spell of such magnitude. It was obvious that he did not use that kind of power when training, or he would have blacked out more times than a certain character in Omoide No Kakera. (Read it everyone! It's crucial to my story!).

He must know that he's the Child. Yeah sure he's in his teens, but people grow right? Anyway, if he didn't he would not have plainly shouted out that he was the Child of the frigging Prophecy.

Suddenly I realized something.

Danger would be coming soon.

Very soon.

Over the years, many who had read the prophecy sought to destroy the child borne from it. Many of those who were suspected were killed, only to find that there are no "lines of ivory" on them or their belongings. In fact, due to the ambiguity of the prophecy, the different ways of interpreting it cast many different types of people suspect.

_You are looking for a flying arrow with ancient sword and the missing armor of steel…_

_The priest, gone to an empty battle unfulfilled and lifeless_

_A growing year, with burnin' lines of ivory is the key_

_He is the prophecy that will shake the world, that will destroy. _

For example, the "flying arrow". What did that mean? A flying arrow frequently symbolized death. But could "flying" be a term for "running away"? or just a useless word to describe the "arrow" which could mean both a bowman, a actual arrow, or a person killed by one.

Did the "burnin' lines of ivory is the key" really mean that it was a birthmark of sorts? Or could it be more literal? Could the ivory not mean a color but the tusks of monsters? Would the "Burning lines of Ivory" then symbolize a craftsman who shaped and melted ivory? Or the Key be literal as well? Could it mean that the person in the prophecy had an ivory key? In that case most people were at suspect, even Mr Pickall.

Phew…

Anyway, that meant that a whole lot of people fell in the range of the various misinterpretations that arose from the lousy prophecy that Trojan Pony made.

One thing was certain though.

The Child was a threat to Maplekind.

And this boy…this guy Tom, was definitely the Child.

Unless of course, that…ring…those "lines of ivory" are just magical tattoos. (These magic tattoos were very popular nowadays, but one would have to be crazy to tattoo any indication or mark that might indicate that he/she was the Child. Most people don't even dare to possess anything that looked like ivory.)

Nah.

So, Tom was a threat to Maplekind.

But somehow, something tells me not to think that way.

Sorry, sidetracked.

Danger was coming.

Very soon.

It was funny how the few onlookers had not blabbed about Tom being the Child yet. Either they forgot, or they felt indebted to him for saving all of Henesys.

Nah.

Anyway, it would do good to be prepared to flee in case anything happens.

----------------------------------------------------

MEANWHILE.

Strike Team A3 was walking (yes, even ShadoArch was not skipping or whatever…) through the Forest West of Henesys.

Various members of the Team started talking.

"Gee, I haven't really walked without Haste or Flash Jump for the last year… I'm so sloooowwww…."

"Well, we can't risk blowing our cover by FLASH JUMPING IN FRONT OF PEOPLE right?"

"Hey, chill! There's on one here anyway…"

"Your 50-million paycheck is waiting back at El Nath. Surely you wouldn't risk losing your life and paycheck with a little Flash Jump or Haste?"

"Now that you put it that way…"

A snail walked and bumped into one of the warriors for the umpteenth time.

**1**

"That's it! I'm not going to let another snail humiliate me, a level 116 Dragon Knight!"

"Chill!"

"No way man!"

Another snail started making its way towards the said warrior.

He stared at it, hands gripping his Fairfrozen, shaking in anger.

**Miss**

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Then a snail spawned right in front of him.

**1**

"Uh oh"

"YAAA!"

DRAGON BLOOD

SPEAR BOOSTER  
BUSTER

DRAGON FURY

SACRIFICE

DRAGON ROAR

**OVERKILL!**

Needless to say, the snail died. Everyone took two steps back from the warrior and sweatdropped.

Luckily, he calmed down.

"It's okay now. I'm cool."

"Good thing no one saw that… or you'll be dead when you go back to El Nath."

No one?

The 20 members turn towards you and wave little circles with their hands.

"You didn't see anything…"

-----------------------------------

MEANWHILE…

In the quiet town of Henesys, a few random dudes who were at the Balrog incident suddenly realized something.

"Oh -------..."

"I've got to tell Chief Stan! It might be too late!"

Within ten minutes, 5 people were running towards Chief Stan, the respected elder of the town.

Chief Stan: "Yes? Is my son willing to come back?"

"To heck with your son! That dude who killed that Balrog was the Child!"

It took a few seconds for it to sink in.

"Wha…at? My child?"

"No! The Child of that Prophecy!"

"Oh."

"Get Athena! Hurry!"

"Why didn't you just look for her instead of me?"

"Well, we needed to give Trojanpony some dialogue to write!"

Anyways, they finally went to Athena, and by that time more than half of the little town was aware that Tom was the Child of the prophecy. They gathered outside Athena's house like rioting government workers, holding their weapons of choice.

"Let's get him!" A cheer went up.

Athena: "No! you don't understand!"

"Just because he saved all of our lives doesn't mean we can't kill him!"

"Now that you put it that way…"

"No matter! Let's kill him before he fulfills the prophecy and destroys us!"

Athena: "NOOOO!!!!!!! cough The prophecy is not what it seems!"

"Oh yeah? Does the words "to destroy" mean anything to you?"

Athena: "Look… I made the prophecy, I AM the leader and founding member of this village, and I say that the prophecy is not what it seems to be!"

"Sorry, lady, but we just can't take the risk. Someone guard her while we go and ask the Child to leave."

About five archers stood in a circle around Athena, while a warrior held a long, sharp Red Kanata at her throat. She glared at them, and finally dropped her simple Asianic Bow. (She once said that true skill did not depend on a good bow).

A short distance away, in Athena's renovated tree house, a young girl watched the events unfold from the top window. She grabbed her Mountain Crossbow and a quiver of steel arrows.

----------------------------

MEANWHILE AGAIN…

Heiji and Kiir were talking in the living room of the cosy house, not knowing that a group of highly trained and organized mercenaries and another (much larger) group of lesser trained and unorganized townsfolk (who were nevertheless very determined) were converging on the same spot. I guess you know where that spot was.

Anyway, they were chatting in the living room, like I said. Unknown to them, Tom had awakened, and was feeling much better. In fact, so much better that he could already stand up.

He did, and walked out of the bedroom and into the living room.

"Hi, I was feeling better after eating and sleeping, so I thought I'd take a walk. Hey Kiir, what was it you said about me having to rest for at least five more days?"

"Wha… how did you…Oh. I forgot that you were the Child…"

Heiji and Tom chorus in unison, "You know?" effectively rendering all the POVs above obsolete.

In which Kiir replies, "You know too?"

In which everyone replies, "I didn't know you knew I knew!"

And this would have continued if Heiji, with her superior bowman eyesight, spotted a glint of metal in the distance.

"Something's wrong."

"What?"

"I…I saw something over there. Looked like a whole lot of weapons."

"Cool!"

"I meant that the weapons are coming here, Tom."

"Oh…I guess that they finally figured out that I shouted out my identity kinda long ago."

"We've got to get out of here before we're turned into mincemeat! Tom is still not strong enough to take on so many people."  
"Hey, Heiji…what's that coming from another direction?"

Heiji squinted at the group of about 20 noobs, and explained that "they were just kids."

They started thinking of a way out.

"How about we bust out of here?"

"Too violent, and we're not strong enough."

"Hmm…how about we pretend Tom's not the Child?"

"Like they will believe us…"

"Kiir, do you have any spells that can teleport us outta here?"

"I believe I have a few scrolls lying around somewhere…"

"Then get them! Hurry!"

She started rummaging around, looking for the scrolls. (Isn't it strange that whenever you want to find something it disappears?)

But it was rather late for that. The angry mob had come, some 50 strong, wielding everything from Hecklers to pitchforks. For some reason, a few of them were also carrying flaming torches even when it was afternoon. Old habits die hard.

They surrounded the building, and started to shout for Tom to come out.

At the same time, the Strike Team saw that the mob was in the direction of their target, so they blended in with them.

At the same time as well, DaGreat saw the mob, and also joined in because he needed a part in my story.

AND at the same time, Kiir finally found a scroll!

"Yes! Wait… that's a helmet Def scroll…"

(She continues looking for the scroll.)

Then Tom had an idea.

"Hey, you know that mystic door incident in Lith Harbor?"

Kiir: "No."

Heiji: "Yes?"

Kiir: "No!"

Heiji: "Yes!"

Kiir: "No!!..I said no, not yes!"

And this conversation would have developed into another mindless chatter if not for the brick thrown through the window. Apparently the villagers were getting tired of the lousy dialogue.

Anyway, Tom continued.

"Remember that… nevermind. I can call that fairy that Magic Guards me… By the way Kiir, that fairy can cast Mystic Door."

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Magic Guard!"

But instead of that original fairy, another one, this time male, appeared and proceeded to dump a batch of magic dust on Tom. Then he started fading away.

"Wait!"

"What?"

"Where is Fairyheartilikepinknevermind?"

"Huh?"

"Y'know, that fairy in originally in charge of me?"

"Don't remind me! That no-good F.H.I.L.P (fairyheartilikepink, pronounced Phillip) just took vacation just like that! And when we were already shorthanded! I have to end up taking care of her 107 people as well!"

"Oh… I'm sorry… but can you Magic door us outta here?"

"Sorry… I haven't learnt that skill yet…"

"Never mind. Go and tend to others then. Somewhere out there someone is dying already."

"You've got a point… lemme check my schedule…there are 23 people requesting for Magic Guard now! Gotta go!"

And with a poof, he disappeared, taking away all their hopes of escaping in one piece.

Trojan Pony: "Oh dang… I've written them into a corner… well, there's only one way to solve this!

Kiir: "There's only one way to do this!"

Walking to the door and flinging it open, the sudden move momentarily shut up the mob outside. After a few seconds of staring, one bold guy (the same guy who confronted Athena) yelled: "Are you going to hand the Child over to us?"

"How about… no."

"If that's the way you want it… Archers, Fire!"

The 15-odd archers of various levels looked at their "leader" in hesitation. After all, Kiir was an important figure in Henesys.

"Do it!"

They reluctantly loaded their various crossbows and bows, and fired a volley of arrows at Kiir.

"Arrow blow Arrow blow Arrow blow"

"Double shot double shot double shot double shot"

For some reason, as the twenty-something arrows streaked towards her, Kiir simply raised her hand with a skeptical expression, as though she was in slow motion. The arrows continued flying, and Tom and Heiji covered their eyes. After what seemed like forever, they slowly peeked out from under their hands, and saw a truly amazing sight.

For Kiir, with an outstretched hand, still stood at the same spot-alive. The arrows that would have turned her body into Swiss Cheese was inexplicably _still hovering in front of her, a few inches from her palm._ No one made a sound- how can you say anything coherent when your mouth is hanging down to the floor?

The arrows were simply floating in midair, and if you looked closely you could see that the magical light of the Arrow Blow was still "slicked back" like the arrow was still moving. With a bemused expression Kiir took plucked one of the arrows from the air, scrutinized it closely ("Bronze Arrow, eh?") and let it drop on the ground. The other 20-odd arrows also clattered on the front porch of her house with resounding finality.

Tom/Heiji/Mob/Striketeam/Dagreat remained openmouthed.

Then, with her hand still outstretched, she tilted her head sideways, while staring at the mob in front of her. Gradually, all the weapons the mob had in their hands were bent at crazy angles, be it wooden sticks or Adamantium weapons, effectively rendering them useless.

Her mouth twitched into a slight smile.

"Boo."

That proved to be the final straw for the terrified townsfolk. They screamed, ran in circles, and some of the torch bearing people started burning houses to give the entire scene a nice effect. Old habits die hard.

Anyway, the only people that didn't run were Tom/Heiji/Kiir/Striketeam/Dagreat. Tom and Heiji still remained openmouthed in the safety of Kiir's house, and Kiir was looking at her hands incredulously. Striketeam, having seen worse things happen before, were not as panicky as the mob. Dagreat, knowing Kiir, Tom, and Heiji, was not too scared too.

One of the StrikeTeam whispered to the rest: "Now's our time to strike! You guys just lob about five hundred thousand mesos at the house and then I cast meso explosion! To heck with all the other plans!

Dagreat, with his above-average hearing, smiled and started sneaking up on Striketeam, holding a small dagger which was very good for cutting cloth, like those bags that store amounts of money 1k and above (COUGHhintCOUGH)

"On the count of three…"

"One"

"Two"

"Three!"

"WAIT! MY MONEY"S GONE!"

Our resourceful bandit had slit holes in everyone's moneybags, causing a huge amount of money to spill out behind them. Our resourceful bandit had also taken most of the money, leaving about 50k behind.

The Chief Bandit brought his hands together and yelled: "Meso Explosion!"

"Dear god…"

BOOM

Dagreat, in the safety of the shadows (dark sight), smiled. "Protagonists 1, Antagonists 0. Those guys will be lying in bed for quite a long time." Then he went to help his 3 friends, two of which were already recovering from the shock.

Dagreat: "Come on! We have to go before more people find out that you guys are sheltering the Child!"

Heiji: "I agree. We should start for El Nath now. After all, we have everything we need."

Dagreat: "Wait a minute Kiir, how the heck did you do that? I mean… some of the weapons were refined steel and Adamantium!"

Kiir: "Do not try to bend the spoon… that's impossible. Instead try to realize the truth.

Dagreat: "What truth? What spoon?"

Kiir: "There is no spoon"

Dagreat: "There is no spoon? I mean, there is no spoon!"

Kiir: "Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself…"

Tom: "But… what you just did… it cannot be real, can it? Stopping bul- I mean arrows, bending weapons…"

Kiir: "If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain. Do you think that's air you're breathing now?"

Heiji: "Can you stop talking about the Matrix?"

Kiir: "Sorry… I just watched it a few weeks ago."

Heiji: "Okay, lets switch the topic back to Tom's survival okay?"

Everyone especially Tom: "Okay."

Heiji: "Here's the plan. Me and Tom are going to El Nath to fufill the prophecy. That's all."

Kiir: "What's the prophecy?"

Tom: "To destroy the Order, as well as that monster they have created based on all the elements of the earth… the Zakum."

Kiir and Dagreat: "The Order? That awesomely strong guild? I've better come along with you two… You'll need all the help you can get."

Kiir: "We have to leave. Now."

Grabbing their … stuff, our 4 heroes make their way towards the town of Ellina, to continue on the second leg of the path fraught with dangers and… stuff.

------------------------------------------

Well, stay tuned to the next episode of Born to Burn!

Once again, I'm sorry for the really long delay in updates. Good news is, however, that me and Eien Kaosu have more or less written Heiji's past, as well as the ending to Born to Burn. Yes, we have already written the ending despite being less than half done of the story.

Yes also, I just re-watched the Matrix Trilogy on DVD.

Also, thanks to everyone who have made the current 50 reviews and 1423 hits possible!

By the way, Kiir and Heiji, what's your levels now?

And also Eien, if you haven't guessed, your review gave me the idea for Dagreat stealing the money. Thanks!

Hmm, oh. And also thanks to the Matrix trilogy!

Also, as some of my old readers might have noted, I seem to update faster in schooltime than in the hoildays, for some reason. Based on that theroy, I daresay that my updates will be faster than this pitiful 2-month delay.

Lets see… 4230 words including this sentence. My longest chapter to date!

P.S I will be thanking all of my reviewers from this chapter onwards, so review if you want a breif mention in my story! Also read the reviews and Omoide no Kakera if you can... they facilitate in understanding the story.

P.S.2 I would like to thank TheWindBreaker as well as the author of Assassin Of Peace (forgot your name, sorry). Thanks for giving me the extra push to complete this chapter!

And TY to anyone who cares two hoots (or more) about my lil' story!


	12. Chapter 12

Well hiya there. Welcome to chapter 12 of my series. Um… Happy (lunar) new year, April fools, and any other special days that I missed with this long update.

As promised, here are my thanks and replies for each and every one who reviewed.

-Eien Kaosu, my faithful reader, good luck with your power leveling and um… your story? Aniwae, thanks for clarifying Heiji's past! I will try to make this story the one of the best in the Maplestory section!

-Sith Worshipper: Well thanks for supporting me in both Hero's Dragon and Born to burn. Muakz! Btw, as I told you in the PM, it was rather hard for them to escape if I didn't make the ST easier.

-TheWindBreaker: Has anyone told you about your nice name? And yay for DaBig! I mean, DaGreat.

-Judgement Flame: Whee! I'm back! Sorry to hear about your internet being… not at home… so you probably won't be reading this anytime soon! I agree that there was A LOT of really useless stuff in my Ch11, but I was kinda stuck with lotsa plot holes.

-RaiKageAsura: Thanks for the nice compliment! Go ahead and write a fic, you have my support! And also thanks for favorite-ting me!

-Sexay: Thanks for appreciating my nice cheesy dialogue. It's what I do best. Nice name, by the way.

-Syncyes x3: Finally someone else who is on the bad side.

-Maple Story Addict: Your name says it all. Thanks for favorite-ting me!

---------------------------------

Well that's about all the reviews I got. Sniff…

Oh, and sorry for the delay again. New Year's resolution was to study harder, so I didn't have too much time. That and because my computer repeatedly spoilt (about 4 days a week for 2 weeks now.. either internet crashed or computer crashed. It got repaired… then spoilt… then repaired… then spoiled…and so on..)

EDIT: Now finally repaired after a month of procrastination.

Thus, here is my chapter, and I have tried to make it better than the chapter 11, which I think was the most boring one I have ever written.

EDIT 2: Sorry for making you guys wait for 4 months… didn't realize it was so long. I admit my mistake.

EDIT 3: After re-reading my story so far, I realized that each chapter is ridiculously short, so I will try to write longer chapters. I also found a large difference between the plots Ch 6 and 11, so if you can find it just ignore it.

Anyway, on to my story. Wait...

Disclaimer. Hah!

--------------------------------------------

YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS

I hereby declare that I do not own Maplestory and Halo, nor the items, possible parodies, LAAAMMME jokes, lousy puns, and anything that can be attributed to lack of skill. Because… erm… Hey! Look over there!

That's just an example, of course.

----------------------------------------

Kiir: "We have to leave. Now."

Grabbing their … stuff, our 4 heroes make their way towards the town of Ellinia, to continue on the second leg of the path fraught with dangers and… stuff.

-----------------------------------

Chapter 12: Ship's here to stay.

Lugging their bags, the 4 were walking along the main road to Ellinia, aware of what would happen if the villagers they left behind would do once they found out that they were gone.

In the town of Henesys, the leader of STA3 was helping up his teammates up, cursing his bad luck, the author, and the unreliability of the weather. The town was still a chaotic mess, with fires all over the place, people running around screaming for goodness knows what, and no one seemed to even care about their plight.

But ShadowArch was not worried. He had spotted something just before he got blown up by the explosion. In the house, beside the archer girl, on a table, was a laminated piece of glossy paper, and he had a pretty good idea what it was. Calling to the rest of the teammates, he brought them into the house, to search for where they might have gone.

As the clerics did their best to heal their numerous cuts and bruises from the Meso shrapnel, ShadowArch finally found what he was looking for.

The glossy paper was slightly larger than a postcard, and just as brightly colored. A giant ship, with jets instead of oars, was in the foreground, and one could just make out the words "S.S Adventurer" stenciled on the wooden hull. In the background, one could see all the so-far discovered places in the Maple world. Ossyria, Ludibrium, Aquaroad, Victoria Island, Maple Island, Omega Sector, Florina Beach, El Nath, all fading into each other to create a stunning backdrop for the travel advertisement.

-----------------------------------

Interested in going for a relaxing vacation, away from all the monster killing?

Here is your chance!

Googolplex Airlines, which specializes in renovating old warships into Fast, Safe, Comfortable, and Cheap luxury airships, this is your chance to both re-live history, while enjoying first-class services!

Destinations include all the currently built docks at all the continents in the whole world!

That is: Ossyria, Ludibrium, Victoria Island, Maple Island and Zipangu!

Also, due to popluar demand, a private dock has been constructed on Florina beach as well as El Nath for all Summer/Winter lovers! You will get to enjoy the special Docks for only 29 900 more Mesos!

But who cares about the destination!

At Googolplex Airlines, the journey is the destination!

----------------------------------------

Florina beach… ShadowArch had always wanted to go there, but due to his busy schedule…

Anyway, it looked like he would have to postpone his long-deserved holiday for another year or two. He had people to catch.

And he knew exactly where to find them.

Circled in red ink, on the brochure, was the destination: El Nath.

Shadowarch picked up a pair of sunglasses, which had materialized out of nowhere and was undamaged despite the Meso Explosion. He put it on slowly, while humming the "Mission Impossible" theme song.

"Let's go."

"Where?"

"To the Ellina Station. Sheesh, can you don't be so anticlimax next time?"

"Yeah whatever…"

_Haste_

They started sprinting towards the direction where the four had gone. A dark and gloomy forest, as far as the eye could see, seemed to form am impenetrable wall between it and the peaceful Henesys.

------

Meanwhile, the four were not very happy.

"Are you sure this is the right way?"

"Look, I'm a mage, I came from this place! I know every tree, every branch, every-oww!"

"That branch knows you very well too!"

"Har Har. I hope this doesn't turn out into another brainless dialogue like in Ch 11."

"Yeah"

"Well, let's get back to point. So, if this was the correct shortcut, how come we're not there yet?"

"Ermmmm…. Let's go back to the main road if you guys don't even trust me, the Child. Hrmph!"

"Where is the main road?"

"That's a good question. Trojanpony, switch back to the bad guys, m'kay?"

Kay.

-----------

Meanwhile, the ST A3 was examining the path that led deep into a forest.

ShadowArch: "I'm guessing that they wouldn't have taken the main road. The road is too straight and a lot of climbing is involved. It's too easy to spot them if they took that way.

They must have took a shortcut.

Turning to the 20 members of his team, he commanded 5 to go to the Ellinia Station by the main road and wait in case the "insolent fools" managed to escape their clutches. The other 15 would be searching for them in the forest.

"Aha!" After 5 minutes of searching, he finally found what he was looking for.

"Look at these broken twigs and flattened grass. There's even a part of some shoeprints here. Ellina is perpetually in shade, and the large amount of vegetation causes lots of humidity and dew, which softens the ground fairly evenly to allow footprints. Judging from the impression and shoe prints, which most likely came from a female type of Steel Tipped Shoes, which is a Bowman-styled shoe, she must have been walking at an above-average speed, and carrying something in her right hand, as the right print is deeper than the left. Without any more info, I can say that her weight is 35 to 60 kg (I'm assuming here, HJ) and the bag at most 3kg, but of course to narrow it down one must take into account the soil structure, material of the sole, water retention capabilities of the soil, etcetera. I wouldn't dream of wasting time explaining to you guys all the technicalities. As for the other footprints, I can make out at least two more, but due to the grass and overlapping prints, I can't tell for certain the exact amount."

Crickets chirped. This WAS Ellinia after all- plenty of crickets.

"Translate?"

"Sigh. they went that way."

"Go!"

------------

And now, back to our lovely protagonists.

They had finally backtracked enough to find a proper road (Albeit still a shortcut) that had been used by others before. The trio was taking turns berating poor Tom (other than the times they had to brush of some annoying Green Mushrooms) as they walked briskly to recover their lost time. After what seemed like hours in the neverending path of really similar looking trees, a giant clearing with a cluster of giant trees finally loomed out in the most gigantic forest in the Maple World. On top of one of the highest branches was a large building, with an airship floating beside it. This was Ellinia- home of the mages.

The rest stopped scolding Tom, and in stared at the ethereal vision of the cluster of trees that undoubtedly, was the very heart of Ellinia. They exhaled slowly in unison. Even the air here _smelt_ magical.

However, they could not relax long. As Dagreat pointed out, they did not know how far behind their unknown pursuers were. They had to leave soon. They started climbing the long ladders up to the airship which they hoped would wait for them.

Unbeknownst to them, this would prove to be the most dangerous-and futile part of the quest so far…

------------

Oh… before I come to the climax of this story, I have a plot hole to settle.

The young girl in Athena's renovated tree house was still holding her Mountain Crossbow, aiming at nothing in particular from the window. She was motionless and would have appeared asleep if not for the fact that her eyes were open and she was still gripping the Crossbow tightly.

Athena rushed up to the room.

"Jade! Did you know—" Athena trailed off.

The girl called Jade didn't respond.

"Jade? Hellooo?"

No response.

"Sigh… she lagged again…" Athena walked over and smacked Jade upside her head.

" Huh? Whaz-za?" She mumbled.

"Jade, you lagged again…told you not to play too many games…"

"Mom, it's just that you don't want to buy me a new one!"

"Your's is good enough."

"But mom-"

"Now is not the time. You know… the Child has finally shown himself after 16 years."

"Where? You mean that they held you hostage just now because of the Child?"

"Yes… these people never understand… If I wasn't unconscious for like… twelve years, I could have found the Child earlier. "

"Do you know who the Child is?"

"Yes… turns out that Heiji has already found out who he is. His name is Tom, and he is a magician."

"What are we waiting for then? I guess that Tom is not really aware of the danger that guild Order poses to the Maple World?"

"He has only a small inkling of the dangers. Anyway, Tom would most likely be on the ship to Orbis already. I saw him, Kiir, Heiji, and this bandit hurrying off in the direction of Ellinia."

"Can we take the L.T.V? Please?"

"The Leader Transport Vehicle? The last time we took it we almost got into an accident…"

"Sheesh mom… that Crimson Balrog was at least a hundred meters away!"

"Fine… I don't see how we can get to El Nath any faster… Grendel always disappears whenever we need him to teleport us…"

"So we're taking the LTV?"

"Sigh Yes."

"Woohoo!"

Jade, without waiting, ran down to the first "floor" in the hollow of that large tree. Though the house looked like the rest of the town-no electricity, there was in fact refrigerators and lights in almost all the houses

However, in the Perice Household, there was one electronic device everyone else in town lacked. Jade ran to a framed picture of Mr and Mrs Pierce, taken shortly after their marriage. Despite her eagerness to reveal what was behind the picture, she stopped, as she always did when she saw that picture.

Jade had always thought of Fletcher Pierce, her father, as a tall, lithe but muscular man with dashing good looks and light brown hair. (Think Antagonist Hairstyle from Kerning City) She did not know what he looked like now, about 20 years after the picture was taken, but based on what she knew about how Maplings (Like earthlings, but maple-lized) Fletcher should look more or less the same as he did then. Since the last time Jade saw him, which was about 15 years ago, she was about 12 years old. She hardly knew him at all. All but disappearing along with her unnamed brother (Jade secretly named him Jared Pierce.), he, nor Jared was ever seen since. Prying her eyes from the picture, Jade reached behind the frame to press the button that would reveal the secret garage where the LTV was kept. As soon she pressed it, a soft whirring sound ran through the house, and the picture swung back to reveal a small compartment with a futuristic looking key that looked like a Thumb Drive, which Athena took. Behind them, a conveniently placed bookshelf split into two halves, and slid apart like doors, revealing a dimly-lit staircase going downwards. Jade and Athena walked through the "door" and it slid shut behind them, every sound amplified in the small tunnel.

After a short while, the stairs ended abruptly to show a large, brightly lit artificial cavern. In the middle of it sat the LTV. It was dark magenta in color, shaped like a Banshee (Idea borrowed from Halo), but three times bigger and with four rocket boosters on each wing, in addition to the main engine. Athena had no idea what it used for fuel, but it hasn't run out yet since of Omega Sector gave it to each of the four leaders a couple of years ago. (She only used it twice though, each time almost meeting with an accident). Athena pressed the key, and the top half of the LTV slowly swung upwards like a door (which it was). Due to the relatively cramped space (vertically-wise) in the LTV, it was designed to be operated while lying down. Before Athena and Jade climbed into the vehicle, she pressed another button on the key, which slowly opened the hanger door to a large blue sky. Athena clambered in the LTV, plugged in the key, and turned on the engine, which rumbled like a Harley Davidson. In the cockpit of the LTV, Athena noted three buttons beside the twin control sticks, marked "Land Mode", "Air Mode", and "Sea Mode". It was already in Air Mode, so Athena just patted the Hello Kitty bumper sticker for good luck, and then put on her blue helmet (Jade already took the pink one), tested the in-built microphone system, and then gunned the engine.

-------------

Pia of Henesys was sweating hard inside that dog/bear suit he wore. Nevertheless, he managed to keep a smile and asked each eager newcomer for mushroom caps. He didn't even know why he was making a losing business- the Monster Recycling Centre bought each cap for 5 mesos each, but one of his scrolls could easily fetch a good 50k or so.

As he was bargaining with a persistent warrior, he heard a low, familiar rumble that appeared to be coming from the large clock behind him. Rather, it came from the large door above the large clock behind him. He knew that sound. Pia had heard it twice before.

He looked at the newb, who was also staring at the clock, not knowing what to make of the rumbling that contrasted with the lively music the town band was playing 24 hours a day. (If you didn't know, every town has a town band that plays the music you hear.)

"Get down."

"Huh?"

Pia glanced back. The door was slowly opening, and the rumblings increased.

"Get down."

"Why?"

Too late, Pia ducked just as a dark-purple streak exploded out of the door, the base of the right wing briefly hooking the bug-eyed warrior straight in the chest. Briefly, because the LTV ascended after that impact, leaving that warrior to fly somewhere towards the dungeon. At least that warrior was wearing decent armor.

Pia stood up and flapped away the exhaust. He hoped that Athena was wearing a helmet, after the two attempts to pilot the darn LTV had failed dismally.

----------------------------

The LTV blasted out of the hanger, leaving twin streams of light and exhaust from the main engines. Jade whooped, while Athena grimaced at the sudden G-force, and a small thud on the bottom-right of the vehicle seemed force her stomach into her legs. The clouds and treetops shown seemed to dizzily merge into each other, like the feeling of sitting on a rollercoaster on steroids would be.

Of course, to Jade, that was fun. Kids nowadays…

"Mom, did you see that?"

"What?"

"For a second there I thought I saw a warrior flying."

"Don't be silly."

----------------

Well, back to the more interesting part of today's chapter.

"However, they could not relax long. As Dagreat pointed out, they did not know how far behind their unknown pursuers were. They had to leave soon. They started climbing the long ladders up to the airship which they hoped would wait for them.

Unbeknownst to them, this would prove to be the most dangerous-and futile part of the quest so far…"

Tom, Dagreat, Kiir, and of course Heiji slung their various weapons onto their backs, and started climbing the long stretch of vegetation to the airship. Hopefully it wouldn't take off yet.

High above them, five people wielding large strong weapons paced around the wooden planks of the Eillina Station, ever watchful of any new passengers, especially a group of at least three people, or any Clerics, Hunters, or Wizards.

Down below them, at the ground floor of the forest, 15 members of the Strike Team A3 strode out of the dense foliage into the hundred-acre large clearing that was Eillina. They looked up and saw four figures climbing up to the Station.

ShadowArch whipped out his communicator, and switched to PM mode.

------

ShadowArch: "Ben?"

Ben PM : "Yeah? Everything is okay up here. Over."

ShadowArch: "Exit the station and look down. Bring the other four guys."

Ben PM : "I see. Over"

ShadowArch: "Now get em'. We're closing in as well. And Ben?"

Ben PM : "Yes? Over."

ShadowArch: "Set that remote bomb we brought along on the ship. And stop that."

Ben PM : "Over—I mean bye."

------

At about the same time Heiji looked down from the ladder she was climbing.

"Uh oh."

Dagreat looked up.

"Uh oh."

Tom looked up and down.

"Quick! Get on a ledge…we'll have to fight.

"Are you crazy? We'll die!"

"You're a cleric right? So we wont die!"

"Well, they have a Priest!"

"You'll just have to heal faster."

"We don't really have a choice do we?"

The four scrambled onto a large branch. The human net was closing in.

"Hey, you're the Child of the Prophecy. Kill the baddies!"

"I'll try."

(Remember that Tom is level 56, and is up against 20 lv 100+ people.)

Once again, Tom focused on the symbols on his wrist. He felt a surge in power, even larger than when he fought the Balrog. However, this time he was able to control the power adequately, thanks to lessons from Kiir on how to control mana(not mentioned earlier.) His wrists with the purple Penance on them glowed like small suns. His Thorns, now glowing red, appeared to be capable of bursting into flames.

"Quick, Tom! Cast a spell!"

"Wait."

Instead of casting a conventional spell, Tom started to mutter some strange incantations under his breath. The very atmosphere of the town suddenly changed. It appeared darker suddenly, especially around Tom. Birds stopped singing, people inexplicably stopped training, and the antagonists stopped climbing. Tom's supercharged Thorns spewed out flaming tongues of deep orange heat, which started to form a small ball of fire in front of the staff. The light from the fire energy, coupled with the dark aura around him, made Tom look very sinister. Heiji could have sworn that Tom's eyes glowed red for a second.

The baddies on the various ladders and ropes stopped and stared, some with barely disguised shock.

For about fifteen seconds no one spoke or moved. By then, the sphere of energy was slightly bigger than a football. Finally someone broke the spell (pardon the pun).

"What are we waiting for? Get him!"

That woke up the antagonists. They continued climbing…a few more seconds and the first person would jump down, and easily weaken them for the rest to finish off. Heiji and Kiir readied their weapons. Dagreat whipped out his trusty Deadly Fin and cracked his knuckles.

"Tom, anytime now?"

Tom smiled. Not his normal smile.

He thrust his left arm, palm forward, at the nearest offender. In this case, it was Ben, from the above passage.

"_Obsidano Conflagrus Magus…Infernium Dravorkia!" _

The dark energy suddenly got sucked into the ball, not unlike a drain. With the lines of dark energy going through the fire, the ball started to take on solid properties. Then, with a spectacular light-show, the inferno shapeshifted to take on the form of a fearsome, terrible, flying…

"CHICKEN?" Everybody chorused, including the protagonists, antagonists, and me the narrator.

Now, with the antagonists laughing, we have some time for dialogue between the four heroes.

Heiji: "Tom, everybody knows that chickens can't fly!"

Tom: "I was trying to summon a freakin' dragon!

Kiir: "Did you know that that was dark magic? How did you do that?"

DaGreat: "Pizza! I mean… we should start fighting right about now!"

Tom: "Yeah! Lets plan what to do while the baddies are laughing at my chicken!"

Kiir: "Great! Tom, Dagreat, take the people below us! Heiji and me will fight those above us! Exclamation Mark!"

Ok, the bad guys stopped laughing.

Dagreat had a brainwave when he saw everyone advancing upwards on ladders and vines.

DaGreat: "Hey! Here's some cutting edge technology!"

"Groan not another bad joke…"

Tom: "Just cut the vine!"

"Savage Blow!"

"NOOOO00000oooo..."

"You know that they won't die with that fall?"

"At least it gives us some time…"

Meanwhile…

Kiir: "Holy Arrow!"

**30**

Kiir: "Magic Claw!"

Heiji: "Arrow Bomb!"

**45**

**20**

**40**

Bad guy: "You are sooo dead…THUNDER SPEAR!"

A large cracking spear of electricity materialized in his left hand. Using it as a javelin, he flung it at Kiir, who promptly dodged. However, Heiji, who was standing behind Kiir, got a slight graze on her shoulder from the flying spear. The literal shock from the attack made Heiji stumble back a few steps, dangerously close to the edge of the platform.

**2157**

"What the… KIIR!!!"  
"Sorry… HEAL!"

By this time, the other four baddies had climbed down. (Namely a Hermit, a Priest, a C.Bandit and a Crusader.) They surrounded the two girls quickly.

"Uh oh."

"ICE STRIKE!"

**1894**

**2023**

While Heiji and Kiir were frozen, the warrior and the bandit rushed forwards and put their weapons at the protagonist's throats.

Just when they were about the deliver the killing strike…

---------------------

Meanwhile (sorry but I just like cliffies.)

They had just cut all the ladders and sent the flaming chicken down to explode itself on the group of people attempting to climb back up again.

Tom: "Looks like we're done here…"

DaGreat: "Wait! There's a hidden portal at the ground floor that leads to… right behind us! And there's a guy below running towards it!

Tom started charging up his wrists again and aimed his staff at the hidden portal.

DaGreat: "Another chicken?"

Tom: "Nah, just a Fire Arrow."

As ShadowArch started to materialize from thin air, Tom stepped up to him and pressed his staff into the Ranger's ribs.

Tom: "FIRE AR--"

ShadowArch: "I wouldn't suggest you do that." ShadowArch gestured calmly to the platform above them.

On the platform, a warrior and a bandit were about to attack Heiji and Kiir, who appeared to be momentarily frozen.

Tom: "HEIJI!"

Tom suddenly realized, too late, that he should never had taken his eyes off the Ranger. ShadowArch, seizing his chance, whipped up his bow, but was unable to pull back the bowstring more than halfway, as the distance between them was too small.

They stood like that, at a face-off, for a few seconds, glaring at each other.

DaGreat: "Drop your weapons! We have your leader!"

ShadowArch: "How did you know I was the leader?"

DaGreat: "I guessed right?"

Hesitantly, the baddies took a step back from Heiji and Kiir. However, they still held their weapons.

"YAAAAAAAA!!!" A Shout (crusader skill) came out from nowhere, as a crusader jumped out from a high ledge and landed, pushing one of the stunned bad guys into the air twenty stories above ground. Taking advantage of the situation, Heiji promptly cast two rapid Arrow Bombs, which pushed all four of the antagonists off the ledge.

At seemingly the same time, a dull explosion reverberated from the forest floor, most of the noise dampened by the vegetation. The chicken must have did its job.

As for ShadowArch, he was somehow not affected. Maybe he was too far from the crusader. Whatever it was, Tom and ShadowArch still stood at a face-off.

Tom: "You know, if you tried to hit me you'd end up whacking me with the bow. This is too close range for you to shoot."

ShadowArch: "You know what? MORTAL BLOW!"

A bright flash from the bowstring shot deep into Tom's stomach, right through his cloth-based armor. Spouts of crimson flowed out of the hole as Tom staggered back, groaning and clutching his gut, where the arrow had gone through and got stuck on the way out. His vision and brain hazy with pain and shock, he barely managed to hold his Thorns but still managed to keep upright., as his White Calas slowly turned red

Mustering his energy, he tried to shut out the pain to focus on his spell.

"Fire--"

"Strafe."

Another four arrows slammed into Tom in rapid sucession. The haze in his mind darkened to blissful blackness, as the stars faded. He sank to the ground, feeding the plants with crimson liquid.

It all happened so fast, DaGreat barely had time to react. But, seeing Tom with five arrows in him, he woke up from the shock and whipped out his Deadly Fin.

ShadowArch: "Hrmph. I wasn't sent to kill you. I'll just injure you a bit. SILVER HAWK!"

DaGreat: "SAVAGE BLOW!"

He jumped up and swiftly sliced the swooping animal seven times, but the hawk, barely flinching, dug its talons into DaGreat's armor and flung DaGreat right into Kiir, sending both of them off the ledge to fall twenty stories. At least they wouldn't die.

Heiji and the Crusader, only just realizing what happened, jumped down one platform to face ShadowArch.

Heiji: 'Crusader? Please bring my friend to the hospital. I'll settle this."

Crusader: "What? But…"

Heiji: "This is between archers. Go."

The crusader rushed over to Tom, and after dousing his multiple wounds with Elixirs (That was common practice for serious wounds), carried him off to the General store, where the shopkeeper would hopefully know what to do.

Now, Heiji and ShadowArch stood about twenty meters apart, bows trained on each other. One held a well-scrolled Metus with an enchanted bowstring, and the other held a plain Ryden. It was grossly unfair.

Heiji: "Who are you?"

ShadowArch: "I am ShadowArch, team leader of Strike Team A3, level 128 Ranger. And who might this lady be?"

Heiji: "Cut the crap. You might have heard of Hjiscool."

A sudden bolt of fear ran through ShadowArch.

-----------------------------------

(The following is a brief POV of ShadowArch.)

Hjiscool was a legend. He had disappeared about 15 years ago, but people still spoke of him in, awaiting his return. Hjiscool, by far the most talented Hunter in the Maple world, could not have just disappeared. Though less than Level 50, he had displayed the strength and dexterity of much more experienced people. He was already able to perform perfected Third Job skills, and had come up with some powerful skills of his own. Given enough time, Hjiscool would have far surpassed the level of top Bowmen in the entire Maple world. Sadly, he had adamantly refused to join the Order. It was pretty convenient for him to disappear without the help of the Order or my team. Now, this spunky tomboy shows up… what relation might she have with the top archer in the land? I'd better be careful… she might be tougher than she seems.

On the other hand, she could just be lying her head off.

(End of POV)

---------------------------------

ShadowArch: "Yeah. Why, are you related?"

Heiji: "Think of me as a…Hjiscool's sister."

ShadowArch: "Nonsense. He never had a sister."

Heiji: "He does now… and let's just say that his skills run in the family."

----------------------------------

(The following is a brief POV of Heiji.)

"Inferno." The word slipped out of my mouth as the flaming arrow imbeded itself into the man, taking the crimson blindfold with it. I regained my senses, and watched in horror as my internal fire became a one executioner massacre, leaving nothing in its path. I was glued to the spot I was standing on, helplessly staring the riot before my eyes, yet somewhere deep inside my heart I felt contentment from it.

I remember this scene well. Maybe that's because "I" wrote it in Omoide No Kakera.  
(Well, Eien Kaosu the great writer wrote it in first person perspective.)

--------------------------------

ShadowArch: "Well. You think that you're very brave huh? The spunky girlfriend of the protagonist who's on a quest to find out his identity, save the world and fulfill some prophecy."

Heiji: "I am NOT his girlfriend!"

ShadowArch: "See? You're spunky."

Heiji: "Whatever. Talk after I defeat you."

ShadowArch: "Hrmph. Just because you're the good guy—I mean girl, doesn't mean that you'll win. This is not a fairy tale, or some shoddy piece of fanfiction. This is real. And any sensible person will bet their money on the Order."

Heiji laughed inwardly. ShadowArch didn't know how right he was.

ShadowArch: "But of course, I am not going to make the classic super-villain mistake by wasting time chit-chatting to you. Goodbye, Spunky."

ShadowArch jerked back sharply on his bowstring, automatically loading four tightly bunched arrows on it. Heiji closed her eyes, and heard the soft twang of the bow and the whizzing of the arrows streaking towards her.

Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice. Hers.

"Puppet."

Heiji's eyes shot open. Did she just cast…

A figure resembling her made of straw and wood was swaying in front of her, arms outstretched. Heiji could see four arrowheads poking through the back of the puppet. After what seemed to be an eternity, the puppet finally toppled, rolled off the edge of the platform, and disappeared into magic dust, with both ShadowArch and Heiji watching with wide eyes and even wider mouths.

"Strange.." Heiji muttered to herself. "My skills are always triggered by using Arrow Bomb… but this time…"

Then she noticed the pendant on that long silver chain around her neck was glowing bright blue. This was the second time in all the sixteen years it glowed. And the first time, it glowed a warm orange, not electric blue. Heiji held up the still-glowing pendant and stared at it.

Seeing Heiji's pendant glowing, Shadowarch immediately guessed that that the pendant was giving her powers. He raised his bow for another, final attack.

Praying hard, Heiji somehow knew that there was no other chance. She brought up her bow, and aimed carefully.

"Arrow Bomb!"

At the same time, ShadoArch released four more deadly arrows. He saw the Arrow Bomb, and laughed.

Just before the Arrow Bomb and the Strafe met, the bomb must have exploded, as the arrow burst into burning tongues of fire.

"Inferno." Heiji whispered, in awe. "Thank you, Hjiscool."

(For Maplesea users, Inferno Global's name for Fire Shot, and it can go through 6 enemies. )

The burning arrow swathed through the four arrows, leaving arrow ash in its wake.

(So far passed through 4 enemies)

ShadowArch, seeing a bright flame flying towards him, did the sensible thing and casted a puppet to block the blow.

The flaming arrow flew towards ShadowArch, and he smirked, confident in his Level 30 Puppet.

But not for long.

The arrow with it's red-hot tip practically melted through the wooden puppet, leaving a sizzling hole through it.

(So far passed through 5 enemies)

ShadowArch's eyes widened.

The arrow slammed hard into the low right shoulder of his scrolled Dark Ades, burning through the expensive, lightweight, guaranteed element-proof, pre-shrunk fabric and leaving a fist-sized burn right in his shoulder blade. He would be incapable of shooting arrows for quite some time. The force of the impact and heat drove ShadowArch a step or two backwards. Heiji jumped and punched at the air triumphantly

Glaring, he whipped out a small device (with his left hand) out of his pocket.

ShadowArch: "You want to go to El Nath, don't you? Well, this little gizmo here is connected to approximately three kilos of Trojan Explosives, the strongest explosive known to Maplestory. For your information, one kilo of Trojan is about half a ton worth of Arrow Bombs. And these three kilos are in the cabin of the airship right there. If I press this little button, the ship and half the station will blow up. MUHAHAHA!"

Heiji: "This is sooo cliché."

…..

Five seconds later...

ShadowArch: "I'm really going to press it!"

Heiji: "Yeah go ahead."

…..

Ten seconds later…

ShadowArch: "Argh what the heck…" click

Heiji: "Uh oh…"

…

ShadowArch: "What the…." clickclickclick

Heiji: "Okay…now that's not really cliché…"

ShadowArch: "What the heck is wrong with th-… Oh. The safety's on."

Heiji: "Uh oh."

Click

The first thing that reached them was the sight of the ship erupting, like a blossoming flame. The purplish flame tore the ship and half the station up, before turning the derbis into falling pieces of fire, which rained down and died as embers in the dim Eillina light. It would have been very pretty if it wasn't the airship being blown up. Following that, the sound. It came as a sharp crack at the point of explosion, and then slowly faded as rumbling thunder. Heiji gazed at it with anime-style large watery eyes.

After what seemed like forever, the explosion finally petered out, leaving the station a wreck, with half of it looking like it was chomped on by a giant Fire Boar. That snapped Heiji back to reality. She loaded an arrow and aimed it…

At the empty spot where ShadowArch used to be.

Cursing, she unequipped her bow and ran to the ledge, where she scanned the town for the villain. No sign of him anywhere. With the introduction of magic portals and scrolls, he could be anywhere by then.

Hastily stuffing the pendant back inside her armor, Heiji started running to the General Store. The Order would have to wait.

-----------------------

Well, that's the end of this chapter. Sorry for the delay, but this chapter just kept on going and going longer for some unknown reason and I couldn't really keep up with the fast pace I was churning out words in my brain. That said, I admit that I was being lazy for a long time, hence the long update.

Woot! This chapter finally has some action! It's fourteen frigging pages on MS word, the longest thing I have ever written. Worth it, though. It might have some weird parts in it, because I'm too lazy to read 14 pages of words. Eien Kaosu has already released the end of Omoide No Kakera, and read it to understand my story, and vice versa.

By the way, I have completed a few short song-fics. Check them out soon on whenever I release them.

The word count is 6159, including this line. Mappy Hapling! I mean, Happy Mapling!


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13, Born to Burn.

By Trojan Pony.

------------------

Hopefully I can drag this story for two years, and I'm pretty sure that this is possible, seeing that the protagonists are not yet at El Nath, and I update really slow. Rereading through my previous chapters, I can safely say that I have improved quite a lot, and perhaps struck some interest in Fanfiction and Maplestory for some of you. The very thought makes me determined to make this story the best that I can make it.

By the way, for some reason I have delayed Review Alerts, so I didn't see Knuckx's and HJ's reviews.

People who reviewed for Ch 12 are:

Heiji! Again, thanks so much for pushing me to complete these chapters… I still like the sketch you sent me in August last year…in fact it's one of my display pics for MSN.

Judgment Flame! Of course this is getting interesting! Tom just got hit counts Five times, and fell into a coma twice! At this rate, Tom will catch up with Heiji soon…

TheWindBreaker! Personally, my favorite part was also the "click" part, but that scene was actually borrowed from a game I played sometime ago.

Maple Story Addict: Congrats on your leveling up! Rest assured I'll write more…

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GAHZ…

My computer crashed just when I was almost done with this chapter. Better yet, I didn't save. Well, I didn't save anything but the first thousand words or so… barely the intro.

So I re-wrote this chapter. At least it was better than the original copy. Look on the bright side of life, I always said. That's why this chapter took really long to churn out even though it's the holidays now for me.

Well, it was the holidays…

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Well then, the disclaimer:

I do not own maple, not any of Wizet's stuff. In fact all I own pertaining to MapleStory is my game account (inactive) and this story (almost inactive). So don't sue.

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Exactly nowhere

Heiji, ponytail bobbing up and down, lugging her and Tom's bags, sprinted the last few steps to the General Store (AKA potion store) and drop-kicked the door open. She heard a dull crunch and a muffled "Ow". DaGreat must have been behind the door.

But Heiji's attention was not on DaGreat. It was on the bloody (not the swear word sense) figure in the centre of the shop, where chairs had been moved away to make way for a makeshift operating table- a hospital sheet placed on two tables. The store lights were turned up to the max to focus onto Tom. An old IV drip stood watch over him.

Kiir, the Crusader, and the Potion Shop fairy Len were kneeling beside Tom, gingerly trying to remove the arrows. They did not even acknowledge Heiji's presence. From their conversation, it was not going well.

"Gee…These went in pretty deep."

"We gotta get these out before we can heal him…"

"At least he's unconscious…the pain must be horrible."

"Heiji, can you pass the caliper coagulator? It's the thing that looks like a crocodile clip."

Heiji grabbed it, passed it to Len, and sat down beside them. Tom's shirt had been taken off, and what was left was a body with four arrows sticking out of it. There was blood everywhere. A sharp bloodstained arrow was beside the unconscious body. Heiji turned away slightly.

Heiji: "Why didn't you bring him to the Henesys Hospital?"

Kiir didn't even look up. She carefully snipped the top three inches of an exposed arrow off, and put it on a small tray.

Kiir: "Not much use. I'm the best healer in Henesys, and even I haven't seen such a serious injury before."

Heiji knew not to interrupt, anxious as she was. She noticed that the Crusader was surprisingly good with the impromptu surgery, deftly sawing and calmly wiping away blood, with arms as large as small trees. She thought that the Crusader would have made a good doctor or surgeon.

After an hour or so, the delicate surgery was finally completed. The Crusader now let Kiir's magic and Len's potions do their work.

The Crusader and Heiji were ushered rather forcibly out of the Potion Shop by Kiir and Len. DaGreat was already outside, waiting.

Crusader: "Why did you go out?"

DaGreat: "Ma dose durts"

Heiji and the Crusader double blinked.

Heiji: "Anyway, Crusader, is your name Knuckx by any chance?"

Knuckx: "How did you know?"

Heiji: "I read the reviews page, see."

Knuckx: "Ahh."

Dressed causally in a Sauna Robe, blue Whitebottoms and wearing simple work gloves, he looked like he just came out from his house to fetch the morning paper. However, with large muscles and an even larger Doombringer, he bore the hallmarks of an accomplished warrior. He moved with the power and grace of a tightly wound spring, though scars on his arms and legs showed that he must have fought tough battles before. Heiji wondered what happened to the opponent…

DaGreat: "Danks fod delping Dom."

Heiji: "When would Tom be healed?"

Knuckx gave a facial shrug.

Knuckx: "Can't really say… By all rights he should already be dead… but he is a blessed guy. The arrows all narrowly missed his vital organs. If he can survive this night, he'd probably be able to recover fully in a year or so."

Heiji and DaGreat: "A year?"

Knuckx raised his eyebrows. "A year… IF Tom was a normal mage. But he's not, is he?"

Heiji nodded slowly, eyes narrowing. Knuckx was obviously implying something. How much did he know? Heiji subconsciously tensed the arm holding her Ryden.

Knuckx caught the small movement, and broke into a smile.

Knuckx: "Oh…don't worry, I'm not one of those crazy idiots back at Henesys. I know that Tom is the Child. Ordinary people wouldn't have lived through that attack by ShadowArch."

Heiji wasn't sastified.

Heiji: "How did you know we were here? How do you know ShadowArch?"

Knuckx: "Sheesh! You don't trust me, do you? I just came back from Ossy for a short break and to catch up with Dances. In El Nath, ShadowArch is pretty well known as the top Ranger there. Also, it is pretty well known that ShadowArch is a member of the Order. I saw him and his group making heading here, so I came as fast as I could. Happy? By the way, nice fight there, DaGreat."

DaGreat: "Thanks. Hey, my nose doesn't hurt anymore!"

Heiji relaxed. Slightly.

Heiji: "So…after saving all of our lives by joining the fight, and then saving Tom again by helping with the surgery, what are you going to do?"

Knuckx: "Hmm… I think that with the Order rather pissed with you, you'd need some manpower on your side. As it happens, I'm a man, and I have power. I thought that if you allowed I'll stick around to haul you people out of danger."

DaGreat: "Hey… if you haven't noticed I am a high-leveled Bandit. And I am a man. That's all the manpower this renegade team needs."

Knuckx chuckled and whirled his forty-five kilogram DoomBringer effortlessly. A slight gust of wind flapped DaGreat's fringe. Heiji and DaGreat stepped back.

Knuckx: "Heh. What I noticed was that an opening door hurt your nose for an hour. A door opened by an archer. A female archer. You call that power?"

Heiji turned red. Not the embarrassed kind of red. She raised her bow and an arrow materialized onto it.

Heiji: "And what's wrong with a _'female archer'_, may I ask?"

Knuckx instinctively stepped into a swordfighter's stance; legs apart, slightly bent, sword raised to chest level and pointing fully extended at Heiji, like a fencer.

DaGreat drew out his Deadly Fin and whirled it around like a ninja with nun-chucks.

DaGreat: "Watch where you aim that sword, buster."

And so they stood, for what seemed like ten minutes, each in their fighting stances, with Heiji keeping the bowstring taut and arrow aimed, with DaGreat half-raising his Deadly Fin, silently repeating the magic words that enabled him to cast Savage Blow, and with Knuckx leveling the great sword at them both, Sauna robe flapping, almost comically in the faltering breeze.

In reality, just thirty seconds later Kiir opened the door of the Ellinia Potion shop.

Kiir: "Hey guys, Good news and…. Woah."

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Half an hour later… in the Potion Shop-

The group of renegade fighters sat around a bench, significantly calmed by the peaceful Ellinia air and by Kiir's words. Apparently she had worked for a while as a counselor, before switching to medical work.

Kiir: "Now that we have established that this unusual occurrence arose as a result of a misunderstanding, lets shake hands as a show of respect and forgiveness to the other parties."

Knuckx gave a brilliant smile with perfect teeth. He was pretty handsome when he smiled. However, Heiji was immune to that. Still angry from that earlier thinly-veiled insult, she stared at Knuckx's extended hand like it was an alien appendage.

Kiir: "Heji…"

Heiji: "Yeah, you told me about the negatively-charged atmosphere arising from my subjective unconstructive outward behavioral patterns."

DaGreat: "Why do counselors always make you sound so horrible?"

Heiji slowly slipped her hand into Knuckx's, fully expecting it to suddenly tighten and crush her bones.

It didn't.

They shook hands.

Heiji (POV): "Gah… This is soo like some idol drama series. Time should slow down and romantic music should be playing right about now."

Knuckx (POV): "Heh. She looks so pissed. She's kinda cute when she frowns, though. If she wasn't such a tomboy…"

Kiir, job complete, switched back to the serious Cleric mode. She looked at the sky. The sun was slowly setting, spreading its final rays onto the treetops a hundred feet above. No wonder it was so dark down here.

Kiir: "It's getting dark. We should get some rest. Tomorrow will be another long day, I'm afraid. Knuckx, thanks for coming to help us today."

Knuckx: "Gee, it's alright. I can join you guys on your journey, if you allow me."

Heiji: "And why would we…"

Kiir: "Refuse? Thanks! We need all the help we'll be getting."

Knuckx flashed another smile. Second time in ten minutes. A new record.

Just then Len walked out of a back room, carrying a tray full of strange looking chemicals and potions. DaGreat bent down and read the label of a normal looking potion.

DaGreat: "Polyatho-enthonoric-floury-benzi…what the heck is that?"

Len: "You mean the Polyathnolicenthonoriflouribenziodefishued Poppidide?"

DaGreat:"Yeah… that Poly… that potion."

Len: "Oh, that's just the scientist's name for the common Mana Elixer… with pineapple flavor."

DaGreat: "Oh."

The group watched Len pour the entire bottle down into Tom's mouth.

Len: "By the way, you guys need a place for the night? Ellinia is a dangerous place at night. As it is in the day, apparently." For emphasis, he gestured towards Tom, on a makeshift bed at the corner of the shop.

DaGreat: "Sure! Where?"

Len: "Well, at my house. Where did you think I sleep?"

Heiji: "I've been to Ellinia countless times and I never saw your house before…."

Len: "To be honest, we fairies don't like living outdoors. The buildings you see outside are mostly built by the immigrants. The fairies have their own houses, within those humongous trees."

DaGreat: "We're sleeping in a tree?"

Len: "You don't really have a choice. It's August. Moon Wolves reach adulthood in this month, and thus are the fiercest. No one sleeps outside at night."

DaGreat: "I slept in tree houses before, but never in that sense…"

Heiji raised up her hand.

Kiir: "Yes, Heiji?"

Heiji: "I'm sleeping here tonight. The Order might come back, and someone needs to look after Tom."

Len: "Are you sure? The Fairy Lodge is one of the finest private villas in the Maple World. Tom should be perfectly safe in here, anyway. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit our homes."

Knuckx: "Heiji's right. I had some medical training before. I'll know what to do if anything happens during the night. I'll stay here too. If the Order comes me and Heiji would be able to hold them off until you come."

Kiir: "But…"

Knuckx: "You guys go have fun. We'll stay here for the night."

DaGreat: "Great! Let's go, Len!"

DaGreat, Kiir, and Len half-ran out of the shop, leaving Heiji and Knuckx staring at each other.

Heiji: "Well…"

Knuckx: "It's been a long day. Lets sleep early."

Heiji: "Yeah sure."

Heiji unrolled her sleeping bag (She bought it in Henesys) and shifted it so that it was a few meters away from Tom, and faced the door of the potion shop. She then plopped down on the sleeping bag and started inspecting her Ryden, feeling very awkward.

Knuckx had placed his sleeping bag on the OTHER side of Tom, and was now sitting on it and staring intently on Heiji.

A few minutes passed, with Heiji getting more embarrassed by the second.

Heiji: "Just…stop… that…"

Knuckx: "Stop what?"

Heiji: "STOP STARING AT ME!"

Knuckx: "Sorry…"

And he did in fact look sorry. He stood up and walked around the shop, checking if the doors and windows were locked tight, meanwhile waiting for Heiji to cool down. He then walked to an unobtrusive corner and started doing is pre-sleep routine- one hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, and about ten minutes of meditation.

After that, breathing deeply, he walked back to his sleeping bag, and bid goodnight to the already sleeping Heiji.

Meanwhile in the Fairy Lodge…

"HOLY MOLY!"

Len: "Great place ain't it?"

DaGreat: "Great? More than great!"

Kiir: "I'll say…"

They stood just inside the tree (It looked much smaller from the outside) staring up at the size of the villas in the trees.

Not very wide, but each spanning about six to ten stories high, each house, constructed in different time periods throughout the centuries, bore a pleasant mix of history and technology. Each house looked vastly different, though fit together well inside the tree.

Kiir: "Len, which one's your house?"

Len: "Oh… mine's the second highest house.

DaGreat: "So how do we go up?"  
Len: "Just take the elevator…"

DaGreat: "Oh."  
They got into the glass-paneled-magic-powered-elevator, (Added to the tree since the 16th century) which shot the group about half a mile up, and came with a smooth stop at the 193th storey. DaGreat and Kiir, who had been holding their breath for the entire 40-second duration of the flight let out a huge sigh of relief.

They stepped out of the lift onto a soft red carpet, which lead to a glittery building towering at least 20 stories high. The architecture was faintly Anglo-Saxon, with a Roman touch.

Kiir: "That…is…your…house?"

Len: "Not exactly mine alone… I share this house with the 2 fairies who work in the Arms shop.

DaGreat: "That is practically a castle!"

Len: "Oh. It used to be one, but times changed and we felt that some Roman pillars should be added, and we made away with the turrets at the top. You should see Grendel's house.

DaGreat: "Where?"

Len: "The highest building. He's been touching it up throughout the last millennium or so."

Kiir: "Can we just go in already?"

Len: "Sure!"

Len led the two wide-eyed teens through the automatic door, whisked them up to his part of the house (Using another lift) and started giving them a tour of his house.

Len:"I live in the 15th-20th storey. The brothers take the 5th to 15th storey. The bottom five stories are mainly for recreation and other whatnots.

DaGreat's eyes widened even further.

"Take us back down, then."

Len: "I knew you'd say that."

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A few hours later…in the potion shop…

It was night. A crescent moon shone brightly above, lighting up patches of the floor beneath the giant trees. An owl softly landed on a windowsill and hooted hesitantly.

Almost instantly a lone howl sounded, lingering in the forest, as if in reply.

Heiji snapped awake.

For a brief moment she wondered where she was…then she remembered the events of the day. Moving only her eyes, she gazed at Tom for a few moments to make sure that he was still breathing. She looked over Tom, checking if Knuckx was asleep.

"Hiya, Heiji."

Knuckx.

Heiji sat up, squinting into the darkness at where the voice came from. Even with her superior bowman eyesight, she could barely see the dark indistinct patch at the corner near the door, which she assumed was Knuckx.

"How did you-"

"There are senses other than eyesight that are far more important to us warriors."

What an ego, Heiji thought.

"Anyway, why are you at the door?"

"I'm keeping watch. I didn't get this far on carelessness."

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Meanwhile…

Tom found himself on a grassy field, outside a large stone temple overgrown with vines and weeds. Tom checked himself, and found that he was not harmed in any way. However, he still felt weak both mentally and physically. All he wanted to do was lie down and sleep, but curiosity about the temple overcame that. He went up to the doorway (the door must have fallen off centuries ago, leaving a gap between the stones as a doorway.)

Tom took a step through the doorway, and immediately felt a jolt of energy pass through him, and pushed him back several feet. A voice rang out from the inside of the temple, spouting some gibberish that Tom could not decipher.

Tom "Err…. Wha-?"

More gibberish that I can't even pronounce, hence cannot spell out.

Tom: "Well… this kind of dampens the spirit of the place. I'll go look for an English-speaking temple."

Heading west, he set off, leaving the temple yelling what sounded like El-Nathian expletives.

He walked maybe a hundred meters west, when he suddenly saw that the ground in front was cut away abruptly, as though he was on a cliff. Running to the edge of it and looking down, Tom got really pissed.

He was on a large rock in the middle of nowhere. A floating large rock in the middle of nowhere. That's it. Not even a Mcdonalds anywhere in sight.

"Curse you Trojan Pony!!!!"

Anyway, he reverted back to his original agenda. He simply fell back on the grass, and slept.

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Anyway, the next morning…

Kiir and Dagreat stumbled bleary-eyed into the Potions shop, and almost tripped over Knuckx who was still wide awake at the door. Heiji and Tom were still sleeping.

"What the heck happened to you guys? I thought the fairy lodge was supposed to be excellent." Knuckx said as he walked over to wake Heiji.

"One word… MetalSlug 5000…"DaGreat muttered.

"That's 2…"

Kiir whipped up some food for the team (with a staff), and soon they were munching at toast and some boiled egg. ("Sorry that I can't conjure up anything better," Kiir had said.)

According to Knuckx, Tom had not moved at all the entire night. The group had to take his word, as Heiji sheepishly admitted to falling asleep during mid-sentence when she was talking to Knuckx the night before. Anyway, seeing that the Ellinia Station would not be fixed anytime soon, and Tom looked nowhere near recovery, the group decided to spend their time training on their skills, and experimenting with different combat styles and tricks.

They first showed each other what they could do. On a field slightly west of Ellinia, Knuckx, obviously proud of his skills, proceeded to use his Power Strike, the glowing blade slicing right through an unlucky Stump. After a few mutterings of "Show off", the group finally decided for a duel.

First match was (They drew lots) Heiji and Kiir. Kiir smiled and readied her staff.

"Guess it's Holy Arrow against Arrow Bomb, huh?"

Heiji suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu. (hint chapter 6 hint) Brushing it aside, she raised her bow.

Twang

HOLY ARROW!

The simple testing shot Heiji made was viciously countered by a Holy Arrow, which upon contact disintegrated itself and the other arrow in a fine dust of holy energy.

The fight officially started.

ARROW BOMB!

HOLY ARROW!

ARROW BOMB!

HOLY ARROW!

…..

To make things short, the arrows they were shooting at each other were accumulating in a growing pile of holy dust. After a while, as with magic spells, their mana ran out.

Heiji knew that she had only enough mana for one more Arrow Bomb. But… she remembered a spell that she somehow didn't use throughout the duel.

Wordlessly, she fitted 2 arrows, so close together they looked like one arrow, and fired, concentrating on the skill "Double Shot." She had only recently been able to use nonverbal spells, and that gave her an edge now.

Kiir fired another Holy arrow with the last of her mana.

HOLY ARROW!

The single holy arrow arced towards the pair of normal arrows, and took one of them out in a small cloud of holy dust. However, the second arrow emerged from the cloud, and continued whizzing to Kiir. Responding quickly, she sidestepped to the left, matrix style, to dodge the arrow.

And tripped over a vine.

Throwing out he arms to regain balance in that somewhat comical moment, the arrow grazed the pinky finger of Kiir's left hand, causing a small cut and her falling down like a character in an anime series.

Sucking at her finger while the rest were laughing, Kiir's eyes suddenly widened as she thought of something.

"Blood!"

Knuckx: "You're scared of blood?"

Kiir: "No you idiot!" Turning to the others, she looked at them in a mix of shock and wonder.

"Don't you guys ever see Full Metal Alchemist? Equivalent Trade!"

Heiji: "Full who?"

Kiir glanced around, squinting at a house a few platforms above. Something about it didn't seem quite right…

"Let's go to the Potion Shop. I'll talk there."

---------------------------------

In the potion shop, Len had helpfully closed the doors and chimneys, and placed a small red stone in the middle of the unlit fireplace.

"Exoflagaro," Len muttered. A strange yellow flame lighted up in the fireplace, and a dense orange smoke began to drift out of the fire.

"You know." Kirr said, not surprised at all. Len did not reply, and went into the potions room.

Knuckx: "Now can you tell us what all this is about? What's with the orange smoky thing?"

"From my numerous travels abroad and the access to the Henesys Library, I have learnt about the power of the Equivalent Trade. It is dark magic, and very dangerous if one does not do it correctly. However, it is powerful magic, the language of the very gods. If one wanted to trade something precious enough, it could even bring the dead to life." Kiir said, eyes strangely bright.

At this, all three sets of listening ears pricked up. All was silent except for the fire which spluttered and released another big cloud of orange smoke. Kiir continued on.

" In the world of magic, many think that since we are wizards and witches, we can do anything. The thing is, we do indeed have the power to do so to some extent. The time-honored art of Equivalent Trade has been gradually phased out since the first man was able to create currency. Unused for many centuries, this power of trade still persists. Sadly, all but the wisest of the surviving people can remember how to perform the necessary rites to enhance the power of the trade. Perhaps, though, it is for the best. Reckless use has led to fates worse than death."

Heiji: "Let's cut to the important parts, Kiir. How?"

Kiir sighed, as though making a choice she would regret later.

"Okay."

Standing up, the group was immediately aware of how much smoke had accumulated.

It smelt salty and stung their eyes. However, Kiir seemed to be oblivious to it. A piece of chalk appeared in Kiir's hand, and she used it to draw a large circle in the ground, the inside of which Len flew forward and made another circle, using a red powder.

Kiir stepped into the circle, and using her still-bleeding finger, squeezed a drop of blood into the centre of the circle. Hurriedly, she jumped out of the circle again, as though scared of what might happen.

Kiir: "What's next, Len? This is the first time I'm doing it…"

Len: "A fire, Kiir. I'll do it for you since Clerics aren't good with fire. A wand, please. Your staff's too heavy for me."

Kiir reached into her robes and drew out a bluish Mithril wand, her backup wand.

"I guess we'll have to make do…"Len said as he tested the wand. "Fairies aren't very good with fire spells too…Exoflagaro!

A bright, albeit small sphere fired out from the wand, and flew over the circle and the drop of blood, where it stopped, froze in midair, directly in the centre of the circle.

"It…its working!" Kiir breathed out. The others realized that Kiir had her doubts about the spell as well.

Abruptly, all the orange smoke in the room was sucked into the flame, causing it to burn brighter than ever before, like a small sun. Just when the group shielding their eyes felt that the light could not be any brighter, it all disappeared with a large crack.

Unaccustomed to the sudden darkness, and with spots dancing around their eyes, Heiji and Kiir squinted into the centre of the circle. A large, dark, faintly shimmering figure with a potbelly was standing in the middle. They saw why he was shimmering.

He was wearing black. Not just black. Shiny black armbands. Heiji thought that she saw it in a book before…

Another attention catching detail about his morbid fashion sense was a long necklace made up of many small human skulls the size of fists, with a palm-sized gold wrought eye in the centre of it. Heiji felt that that seemed familiar too.

"Ah yes, the Constantine burnished Black Diamond armbands, and the Dead Eye Necklace. You have fine taste, the Archer." The person said.

"Get away for her, Mercurius." Len suddenly snarled, as though that fat man was a immensely powerful being.

"Relax, Fairy." Mercurius held up his arms in a mock gesture of helplessness. "I can't get past that little ring of chalk and powder."

Heiji wasn't sure if he was serious or not. There was something in that man's yellowish teeth, large arms and strange clothing that made her both detest and fear him.

"Mercurius, lets get down to business. We want to trade." Len half-commanded.

"Ah, yes. Trading is my thing, after all. What better way to dispose of unwanted items?" Mercurius said, with a flat face, seemingly bored. However, Kiir could sense a flicker of interest behind those blank, _almost dead_ eyes.

"I do have a fine selection of wares for all here. The Fairy, I have in my possession two very nice wands. Nice old wands. Those shiny things, I never know what fairies like about them…"

Len's eyes widened, but he did not say anything.

"And you," Mercurius said, turning to Kiir. "I have a whole library of old books. I believe they are called tomes. I retrieved them, so-to-speak, off a ship at the furthest reaches of Aquaroad.

Kiir was affected not unlike Len. She stared at Mercurius, eyes and mouth slightly wide, silently mouthing what could have been the letters O-M-G. Heiji looked on in confusion.

"As for the Archer, I have some…" The person faltered, eyes staring searchingly at Heiji. She could almost see the gears in his mind working.

"Excellent scrolled bows." Mercurius finished rather lamely, looking somewhat suprised.

"Nah…" Heiji said, gesturing to the Olympus slung on her back. "My bow's good enough."

Kiir and Len stared at Heiji with surprise. However, they quickly smiled and Kiir got back on topic.

"We have summoned you here, Mercurius Esibraeus, the God of Trade, to negotiate for a trade. We will state our terms, and you will state yours." The air around the god shimmered briefly as though he was bound by some magic.

"Yes. What are your terms, young Cleric? Or do you speak for this group?" Mercurius Esibraeus said, though he was looking down and fiddling with his necklace, turning the centerpiece around in his hand.

"I- We speak for this group, Esibraeus. As your eyes can see, (At this he raised an eyebrow) in the other room there is a young man, a teenager who is unconscious. Our terms are this: To revive him to the best of health and heal his current injuries." Kiir proclaimed with more confidence than she felt.

"Of course I can see him, young Cleric. He has sustained great injuries. To heal him would be as difficult as raising the dead."

"But you can do it, can't you?" Heiji burst out, both impatient and worried.

"Yes of course, young girl. However, I would demand a rather large payment. For raw materials alone, I would require human flesh and blood. 2 arms worth should be about it. But one of his arms would do." The god said, suddenly noticing Knuckx, who was sitting behind him all the while.

"What! You can't do that! It's…" Kiir was quickly interrupted by the god, who seemed to have not heard her at all.

"Aha… but wait! What do I see?" His eyes were gleaming greedily. "The young one…he has a mark on his wrist…though partially hidden by the low-grade Wisdom Crystals. The gods know of the prophecy as well, cleric."

Len groaned. They all knew what was coming next.

"I'm afraid I have to raise the price."

No one spoke.

"But looking around… I do not see anything valuable that you have. Maybe the Child of the prophecy, but nothing more. Hence, I shall not serve you. Goodbye."

The god had started fading away in that circle, but a few incantations from Len brought him back.

"What now?" He said irritably.

Heiji spoke up.

"You said that the only valuable thing was To- The Child, right?"

Mercurius Esibraeus, the god of trade, did not say anything. Heiji pushed on.

"So, how would you like to change the conditions of the deal a bit?"

"How?"

"The Child would be at his best power after he has fulfilled the Prophecy. You can revive him now, and then….take him after he has done his job."

"ARE YOU NUTS?" Kiir and Len chorused.

"Relax, I know what I'm doing."

Mercurius Esibraeus frowned and fiddled with his small beard. After a whole minute of agonizing silence, he slowly nodded, face still devoid of emotion.

"Yes."

Heiji didn't know whether she should be happy or sad. She prayed that her gamble would pay off.

"Any other requests?"

"No. You may go." Kiir said.

"Remember, I will exact payment."

Giving a smirk, the first emotion he showed, the god of trade disappeared in a flash of bright light. The ring of powder that had bound him swirled away in a sudden gust of spooky wind, though the windows were all closed.

A loud groan from the room brought them all running to Tom, all doubts thrown aside.

------------------------------------------

Like a camera, the scene in front of Tom slowly shifted into focus. 3 people, with a flying thing, were looking down on him.

Hey…they were Kiir, Heiji, and Knuckx, and the fairy called Len.

Strange though… one minute Tom was looking into the sky-blue infinity, and the next his friends were looking at him with concerned expressions.

Tom vaguely remembered being shot with some arrows, but sitting up and feeling around him he didn't feel anything sticking in or out of him. In fact, it seemed like just a dream.

Yawning and stretching his arms, he was instantly enveloped in a group hug that threatened to create a few more injuries.

Something seemed strange. Why did there seem to be one person-

"DaGreat," Tom spoke out amidst the celebrations. "Where did he go?"

Eyes wide, they all quickly looked around the room to find the obvious. He was not there.

"Where could he have gone?" Kiir mused.

The color drained from Heiji's face.

"I will exact payment." Heiji said, suddenly fearful.

Kiir gave something between a scream and gasp, and fainted.

----------------------------------------------

In a house a few platforms above the Potion Shop, the closed shutters gave a sudden flick, and were still.

--------------

End

Well that just about wraps up this chappie… that took me such a long time (About 5 months!) to complete. At least though, it is pretty good for my standards. I was influenced by the Harry Potter style of writing towards the end though. For the better, I guess.

What does the Temple contain? Who is Mercurius Esibraeus? What happened to DaGreat? Why weren't there any Macdonalds?

All this would be answered later on in the story, so stay tuned!

XD

Anyway, I'll TRY to update sooner. After all, End Of Year exams are arriving, and I'll have a lot of time after it. So…yea… stay tuned then.

Wootz 70 reviews and 2429 hits! Thanks so much guys!

Word count for this chappie was 5534, including this sentence.

--------------------


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14, Born To Burn

By Trojan Pony.

Hey guys, readers, if you still keep tabs on this story.

It's been a long time, I admit, and it's due to schoolwork, disinterest in Maplestory and a general lack of inspiration since Chapter 13. In fact, I wrote the first half of the chapter two weeks after I posted Chapter 13, and the rest, with some edits to the front, were written during the past week.

Why did I start to post? Well, Randomness From Boredom left me such an inspiring review… so I decided to haul my lazy butt off the couch and to the computer. Thank him when you review my story! And review him! He's really really good!

Whatever it is, I'm back! And relish this chapter well; it may be the only one for a REALLY long time.

--

DISCLAIMER:

I've sorta ran out of lame puns for this disclaimer section, so yeah… I don't own Maplestory or related programs from Wizet. Any information about items will also be from Hidden Street.

I also do not own Heiji, DaGreat, Kiir, Knuckx, and anyone else other than Tom.

This leaves me with nothing much.

T-T

--

Meanwhile, in a house a few platforms above the Potion Shop, the closed shutters gave a sudden flick, and were still.

--

Chapter 14:

Everyone seemed to be fainting nowadays, Heiji thought. Kiir was lying on the same bed that Tom had vacated just ten minutes ago.

"Well, at least she's waking up soon," Heiji muttered, resting her elbows on an empty spot on the bed.

Meanwhile, Len and Knuckx were sitting round a table filling Tom in on the events so far.

"Mercurius Esibraeus, the god of trade, was summoned by Kiir using some ancient lost art that only a few people know about. To make a long story short, he resurrected you,

"But," Knuckx replied, "He made a deal with us, which… Len, I'm wearing Camel Boots, so give up on stepping on them."

"Fine then." Tom shrugged. He knew enough about gods and their greed for payment. "I'll ask at a later time. Len, Mercury… he resurrected me? How?"

"I'm not too sure either. He's a god. He has powers we do not know of."

"So where IS DaGreat?"

"Dunno." Knuckx shrugged. "We've looked everywhere. He's either hiding from us or…"

"Or what?"

"At the end, before Mercurius left he said something about exacting payment."

"You think that he might have exploited a loophole?"

"Maybe." Knuckx muttered.

"Probably. Argh! Heck, definitely." Len exclaimed, flying nervously in circles round the two humans.

Tom stood up.

"Where does Mercurius live?"

"Don't get any funny ideas, Tom. AND he doesn't really 'live' per se."

"Whatever." Suddenly feeling steamed he grabbed his bag and slung it on one shoulder. "If you won't help me I'll go look for him myself."

"Stop it, Tom! You think we're not worried about DaGreat? Remember though, he sacrificed himself to resurrect you! Finish your destiny before getting killed by Mercurius!"

"SACRIFICED? YOU CALL BEING MURDERED WITHOUT HIS CONSENT SACRIFICED?"

Len started to protest, but Knuckx held the fairy back and the two of them watched Tom wordlessly stride off into the light fog that always hung over Ellinia in the sunlit afternoon.

--

Two hours later, Tom was sitting, legs dangling from the highest ledge in Ellinia, beside the Magician Job Instructor. He looked at Tom quizzically.

"Don't even ask."

"No use jumping, you know. It's about 30 HP gone, that's all."

"I'm thinking."

"Of what?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Oh fine. I just walked out on my best friends over something incredibly stupid, and how am I supposed to go back with any pride?"

"Hmm. How about telling them that you found a treasure map?"

"Nah, that's too cliché. I don't have one, anyway."

"Ta-dah!" With a unnecessary flourish the 2nd Job Instructor pulled out a piece of paper from his cloak.

"That looks kinda new, doesn't it? I mean, for a treasure map…"

"Don't worry," the magician assured. "It's genuine. But it's a copy. I NPCed the original…"

"Why?"

"You see, I didn't know that it was still in my pants pocket when I traded them in…"

"Argh." Tom grudgingly took the treasure map. It was surprisingly simple. A piece of paper, with the words "X marks the spot", and a large symbol beneath it, showing a small thunderbolt or maybe fire, encircled by a ring of a dozen or so other symbols. Most of them were strange shapes but one of them, a elaborate circle seemed familiar to him.

"Where's the map? I don't see any geographical markings."

"This IS the map. But I have no idea where these symbols lead to. I found the map a long time ago, where I was undergoing my training for 2nd Job instructor."

--

(Cue scene fading away into a flashback)

--

"Hey! You! This isn't a vacation!"

A century or so ago, I was a young boy undergoing training for the coveted position of 2nd Job master. I was top of my class then, and they had narrowed their choices to about 5 people for each class. We were sent to Aquaroad, previously unused except for the purposes of the training camp. The group of 20 of us clustered around the base of Orbis Tower, unsure of how to go down. At that time Air Bubbles were not invented, and all the classes had taken drastic measures to survive below. It was hell. Out of the twenty that started off friends in Orbis Tower, fighting past sharks, undead fish, and other horrors, only eleven survived. Four mages, three thieves, two warriors and bowmen.

How we survived the next month, I still don't know. Every day, I saw sights that I remember even to this day. I saw how desperate people acted in the face of death. They made us backstab each other. They called it a test of intellect. They dropped us in the dungeon, weapon-less. They called it a test of strength. They isolated us for days at a time, calling it a test of survival skills.

And survive I did. I was the only mage that made it past the programme and therefore was pronounced the 2nd Job Master. I was awarded an ancient staff that was said to have been passed down from the third to the second job masters since the beginning of time. That staff was not very good per-se, and even seemed to be especially fragile, but for the sake of tradition I used it.

Once, when I was riding my personal vehicle, (At that time it was like a flying metal rowboat, not those crazy contraptions you see today) between Ossyria and Victoria Island, I came across a Balrog that was tearing apart a ship. That Balrog was not ordinary. It was wearing armour, and carried a giant sword. I stopped my vehicle and poured out my best attacks on the Balrog to drive it away. But it was an ambush! While I was distracted a person snuck up to my ship. How, I never knew, but in seconds he was standing on the tail section of the ship, just a meter or so behind me.

"Don't move."

I whirled around, staff slicing through the air in reflex.

"Radi-"

But my staff was blocked with the dull clunk of staff against wand. My staff creaked ominously as the jet black, finely ornate wand pressed against it.. The holder of the wand wore long black robes, whipped around in the strong winds 15000 feet above ground. A hood was pulled low over his face, and all I could see of him was a clean shaven lower jaw with expressionless lips.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

He didn't say anything, but instead drew out another, identical wand with his left hand.

"Thunder Blade!" He bust out, pushing my staff away with his right wand while casting with his left. (Some imaginary skill, think of it as rapid lightning based Magic Claws)

"Holy Shield!" I shouted, cutting that man off, as a bright light erupted from my ancient staff, solidifying into a gel-like bubble shield around me. Just in the nick of time, too. Electric blue slashes crashed in a frenzy at the shield, trailing sparks and leaving my staff shaking violently with every blow.

We duelled. If my life wasn't at sake, if would have been the best duel of my life. Blow after parry after shield, we circled each other on the confined space, casting powerful spells unheard of today.

"Prye!"

"Insidio!"

He teleported left just as I dove to the ground, staff unleashing a flurry of magma bombs where he stood just a moment ago. A dark, semi-gaseous stream erupted from his twin wands, and I twisted my staff to shoot the remaining blobs of magma at it. The two spells met in midair, and exploded violently, sending chunks of the boat plummeting towards the blue expanse fifteen thousand feet below.

"Radiance!"

"Scuro! Fiamma!"

I casted another bight sphere around myself as two intersecting rings of holy daggers appeared spinning about the sphere, firing out daggers with the speed of an assassin with the accuracy of an archer. A dark, translucent black wall rose out in front of him, absorbing the daggers with ease, while his other wand fired a sustained beam of dark-green fire straight at my shield. It hit me stronger than I expected, and I stumbled back precariously over the edge of the rowboat, holding out my shaking, rapidly weakening staff.

He gave the slightest hint of a smile as he raised the second wand.

"Fiamma!"

Another beam shot out, but this time it was a dark red fire, which entwined with the green to form the final blow to my staff.

It broke into three pieces, now just useless pieces of wood. A rolled up, yellowed paper fell from the hollow middle of the staff, and I managed to grab it just before it, and the remains of the Ancient staff, was blown away from the force of the twin beams which could be felt even through the shield.

At the same time, a voice seemed to boom out from nowhere.

_You are looking for a flying arrow with ancient sword and the missing armor of steel…_

_The priest, gone to an empty battle unfulfilled and lifeless_

_A growing year, with burnin' lines of ivory is the key_

_He is the prophecy that will shake the world, that will destroy. _

"Prophecy?" I asked.

"THUNDER BLADE!" He replied.

Thanks to my shield, I managed to survive that attack. So, with my shield fast fading away I did the only thing I could do-- jump. The last thing I saw, at least for the next week or so, was the sight of him standing at the edge of the boat looking down, getting smaller and smaller as I plummeted downwards.

--

(End Flashback)

--

"Long story short, I managed to survive the fall, and discovered the so-called prophecy. But up till now I still don't believe in the prophecy. The world hasn't been destroyed yet, and I don't think that it would be soon. All that's left of that day is this map. I haven't been able to decipher it yet. Anyway, if that guy in the prophecy pops up I'll just make him wish he was never born. A few of my attacks and he'll be crawling back to wherever he came from."

"Erm... yeah. Gotta go. Thanks for the map."

"No problem! Remember, if you come across that guy in the prophecy kick his butt for me, okay?"

--

Sometime later...

"Hey guys! Guess what I've found!" Tom shouted, running back to Len's house.

"Let me guess... a treasure map?" Heiji inquired sarcastically, her eyes not leaving the Len's morning newspaper.

"Wha... How did you know?"

"I'm smart. Wait... You found a treasure map? HEY GUYS HE FOUND A TREASURE MAP!"

And soon Tom found himself sitting at Len's table, poring over the map with the rest of the group.

"Hmm... X Marks the spot... X marks the spot..."

"Do you think the map has something to do with the prophecy? I mean... they were found together..."

"Obviously. This is fanfiction! EVERYTHING is tied together in fanfiction!"

"Erm... can I suggest something stupid?"Heiji asked.

"Go ahead. This is Trojan Pony's fanfiction after all. The map would probably have some lame meaning."

--

TWO HOURS LATER

--

"This is so stupid."

In the paper thin atmosphere of Perion's highest mountains the group found themselves brushing off stumps as they continued trudging forward. Len had wisely declined to go with them, instead deciding to man his shop.

"And a darn good choice he made too!" Kunckx grumbled, hacking at a Stump. "I mean... AXE marks the spot? Who comes up with such a lame pun?"

"Hmm. Lets try Dangerous Valley 2. The Red Drakes there might symbolise the fire in the map."

"Oh, fine."

"Wait!" Heiji shouted, kneeling over the remains of an Axe Stump. "Check this out!"

On the axe of the Axe Stump, a small symbol was carved into the bottom-right of the blade, almost invisible to the casual eye. The word resembled the Chinese letter "Zhong", but since this is an English Fanfiction…

Kirr poked at the map. "Actually I think it's one of these symbols in the ring thingiy. So it probably dosn't have anything to do with Chinese, per se."

"Oh well. Can't it be both?"

"Have it your way."

"There could be much more of these! I think they're clues to the treasure's location!"

"Yeah. The treausure probably needs Tom to be revealed, or else others would probably have discovered it by now."

They continued hitting at Stumps for some time in silence, looking for more of those strange symbols.

Half an hour later...

"Hrmph. I'm bored." Kunckx announced, lying on a flat rock. "Should I just give spoilers to the treasure now?"

Heiji shot another arrow to complete a smiley-face on a Stump. "Hmm... I think we should give the readers some more suspense first."

"Switch to some other characters then. Like the baddies, or Athena and Jade." Tom said.

Oh, fine.

--

-El Nath-

Having been ignored for the previous chapter, the mother and daughter were training around El Nath to spend their time. Mostly Athena though, because Jade could not keep up with her speed.

"HAHA! DIE, YETI! DIE!!"

"Yes, Mother."

"I haven't done this in a really long time, Jade. Ever since I became Job instructor I've had to sit down and guide newcomers on their path to becoming bowmen."

"Yes Mum, but can you please stop using that dual chaingun crossbows? It's scaring the other players..."

"But I love Van Helsing!"

"Well, you're the Saviour of Henesys, so have your say."

Then they fell silent again, the only sounds being the steady rat-tat of Athena's unbelievable weapons.

"Hmm... we're here to find Tom, right? What happened to him?"

--

Just at that moment, two warriors walked past them, conveniently within earshot.

"Hey Jim, this is a bit off the topic, but did you hear about the explosion at Ellinia Station?"

"Oh! Yes! But in case anyone overhearing us doesn't know, an oh-so-mysterious group called the Order blew it up so there weren't any flights since Chapter 12!"

They walked to the next map, and was gone.

--

"Yeah. So, will we be going back to Victoria island?"

"Erm... I guess so, dear. Chief Stan is probably quite angry at me now since I left thousands of aspiring bowmen waiting outside my house for days. I'll need to go back to sort it out."

"But..."

"Don't worry, sweetie. Just relax. We'll go to town for lunch, and we'll leave first thing tomorrow.

"You ran out of arrows again, huh?"

"You got me... heh..."

--

Back in a cafe in El Nath...

"Erm.. I'll like two Red Bean Soups and... a steak. And a Pizza. With extra cheese."

"Way to go, Mum!"

The food arrived almost instantly, despite the large order.

"Before you say anything," The waiter said quickly, "My name is Darkbandit, and I'll be the next character introduced in Born To Burn."

The duo stared at him.

...

...

...

"What!" He exclaimed, raising his arms in a _so-sue-me_ gesture. "How else was I supposed to introduce myself?"

--

Okay, now back to Tom and friends. Screw the suspense.

--

"Well, I expect you need to follow the axes on the floor in the same order as the map."

They had left all the axes with symbols where they lay, and it was indeed starting to look like a trail. They started from the first axe the found, and continued clockwise, following the axes. Over rocks, trees and cliffs they went, but eventually they reached the end of the path to find themselves facing an impossibly large mountain face.

"There is just one more symbol left, the one at the top of the ring. But we can't find it anywhere." Kunckx said.

"Maybe it's inside the mountain?" Kiir suggested. "After all, it's the next logical direction.

"No."

The rest turned to look at Tom.

"How do you know?"

Tom removed his glove. His wrist with the glittering lines on them glowed with surprising intensity.

"It's not in the mountain, it's in my wrist."

That wavy thread in the map was part of the symbols on his wrist. No wonder he felt that it looked familiar.

"Sooo now what? We have all the symbols, and the treasure is probably behind that door."

"I guess you need to do something to open the door."

"Maybe if you attack the mountain face…"

"Wait, we forgot the most important symbol! The one in the centre! The one like a cross between fire and lighting!"

Tom smacked his forehead. "You're right! We're missing the most important part of the puzzle!"

"So," Knuckx asked. "You have no idea where that symbol in the middle comes from?"

"Well… yeah."

"So, our efforts so far has been useless. We know where the treasure is, but we can't get to it."

"Somewhere, I assume, is another ancient artefact with this symbol carved onto it. But plainly, we don't have it."

On an impulse, Heiji checked her pendant. Nope, the symbols were the same as on Tom's wrist. No mention of the fire/lightning symbol on it.

"Let's go, guys." Knuckx said, crestfallen. "We still have to look for DaGreat."

They left, shooting last glances at the impassive stone wall with the treasure supposedly buried deep within.

--

As they left, voices trailing away, an assassin stepped out from the cover of a rocky outcropping. His thoughts were on that symbol, and where he had seen it before. He hustled back to Kerning City where his superiors were waiting for his report.

--

An hour later

A silver hawk flew to its perch, thoroughly tired after its long flight. Its master extracted the gold canister from its claws, fed the hawk a bloody piece of meat (Bain's heart- it was good for the hawk) and let it rest with the other 80 or so other hawks in the giant aviary till the next time it needed summoning. Taking the gold canister- he would never dare open a Gold canister; he passed it to a mage, who gingerly waved his wand at it, teleporting the canister and the secret documents it contained straight to the leader's private office.

A pop, and a little bell rang to tell him that a top-secret message had arrived.

With a twinge of annoyance, he put down the ruby-red sword he was admiring and walked to his desk, just beside the perpetually burning fireplace. Sure enough, a gold canister was lying on a special slot reserved for that purpose, glinting red in the reflection of the fire.

He stopped just short of the canister, instead pausing to look at his reflection in a full-length mirror just beside the desk. How long has it been since he noticed how he looked? Work regarding the Child had been the only thing on his mind for the past month or so. And before that there was the business of the near-leak by an informant. And before that… there was another pressing matter. Definitely, it's been a while.

He gave a small lopsided grin despite himself. "Man, I'm still hot."

Dressed casually this time in a loosely-buttoned light blue shirt and jeans, he looked like a rugged football player in his twenties. (Of course, age didn't matter in the Maple World as people aged at different speeds. Now Grendel- that's one fast ager there. People like Pia never seemed to age physically, though of course he's been around for definitely more than thirty years.)

Without the cloak and hood over his face, he looked much stronger physically. Many said that he didn't look at all like a Bandit or a Warrior, that his arms appeared too thin.

"Oh really?" He cocked an eyebrow as he surveyed his reflection, his solid arms that though not thick, were made of almost pure muscle that rippled under the skin.

His dark hair, just short of shoulder-length, fell naturally to his right, covering part of his right eye in a seemingly waxed hairstyle. His eyes, equally dark, radiated charisma and humour, quite unlike the stereotypical evil villain.

Smiling this time, revealing a row of white, even teeth, he reached out for the golden canister, and twisted it open, revealing a rolled-up sheet of paper filled with tiny numbers and symbols.

Encryption? His brow furrowed as he stared at the symbols, deciphering it in his head, ignoring the small decryption machine he had bought for that purpose.

_REGARDING CHILD OF PROPHECY_

_Our base in Vic Isle found some information about aforesaid COP._

_He is called Tom by his friends, namely Kiir, a cleric from Henesys, Heiji, an archer, and Knuckx, a warrior. They seem particularly weak. They are currently searching for some treasure in the Perion mountains, and appear to have found the entryway to the location of the treasure. However as my informant reports they were not able to enter, due to them missing an important part of the puzzle in the map. Our informant was unable to procure the map without revealing himself, but a brief sketch by him ( Attached in encrypted form –run through decryption with line 12 margin , a8 spacing) shows the missing symbol. I trust you have seen this before. At least, I have, but can't for the life of me remember where._

_Sincerely, No. 81325v_

_Postscript: I have the nagging feeling that this is the location of the long-lost anti-Order headquarters._

Following that, a long chain of slashes, reverse-slashes, brackets and hyphens appeared.

Anti-Order? He thought, remembering the period of the Order's history steeped in blood, where warring factions fought savagely and openly on the streets, forgetting both side's original intent of secrecy. Now, this potential headquarters may be found, along with all the Order's secrets revealed, a hundred years after the last Anti-Order fighter fell.

But it was just a rumour, wasn't it? A legend, all truth that may have existed warped beyond recognition with time and countless rehashing. But…. He glanced with apprehension at the senseless chain of characters.

He ran the paper through the decryption machine, and spaces, margins and paragraphing sorted itself out to print a copy where the various shapes formed a crude drawing of the last symbol, what Tom described as a cross between fire and lightning. He however knew better. The symbol was split into four, the top and bottom right the marks of a lightning bolt striking a flame below. The top and bottom left sections though, were different. The left of the lightning bolt was curiously jagged, and the left of the fire tapered into a smooth oval.

Ice and poison. He suspected that the ring symbolising the Order had circled the symbol, bringing the list of elements complete, with the symbols in the Order Ring alternating to represent dark and light.

No. 81325v, the codename of the supervisor of their Victoria Island branch of the Order, was right. He had seen it before.

And he couldn't for the life of him remember where.

--

(Couple of days later)

Oblivious to the sweat pouring down his face, Hatori kept his aching arms steady as he started on the last quiver of his arrows. The wall he was aiming at was pockmarked at every square inch with the indentation caused by arrows.

Strafe. Strafe. Strafe.

He kept his mind focused on the words as he rained a steady stream of arrows into the shattered remains of the centre of the target board. The rest of the board though, was the only unmarked portion of the whole wall.

A few sharp raps broke the steady rhythm of clicks of metal arrows against stone wall.

Hatori's face gave a slight, hideous grunt of annoyance, layers of scar tissue pulling his disfigured face into a revolting grimace. That person at the door would have to wait. He continued firing arrows, not once stopping or slowing his pace.

Finally, he came to his last few arrows. Firing them as flaming arrows into a few strategic points of the wall, clearing the whole wall of the tens of thousands of arrows embedded inside, he gave a smile, though it looked no different from his hideous grimace minutes ago.

Athena would be proud, he thought.

Stopping at his table to pick up a red bandanna, he tied it securely around the bridge of his nose, effectively covering all of his face below the nose.

That persistent person at the door gave another series of sharp knocks as Hatori flung the door open. The archer standing at the door looked at Hatori, clad in dark armoured clothing, with a red bandanna around his face; and decided, chuckling inwardly, that he looked like some sort of desert raider better suited on horseback.

"Erm, Are you Hatori?" He asked the person, giving a smile of amusement.

"Yes. Who are you?" The voice was raspy and badly mispronounced, made by what must be misshapen, disfigured lips.

Subconsciously making his speech clearer and more refined, to emphasise on the difference between them, he extended a hand out to shake, despite his right shoulder wrapped in a bandage.

"Shadowarch, at your service."

His answer was a door slam to the face.

--

Hatori had always, and will always go solo. ShadowArch was of course here to recruit him into the Order, but there was no way he was going to.

He just needed to drill that into ShadowArch's insolent head, preferably repeatedly, with arrows.

He stopped when he realised he was pacing the room, and when he looked up he was looking at his face in a small wall mirror. A sudden burst of sadness mingled with rage rose up within him, and he was instantly transported back to that day, sixteen long years ago.

--

Hatori had rejoined the Archery classes, just to be with his friends after endless training with unforgiving monsters. He couldn't believe how much he had missed Athena's school. Sure, he had always been sleeping when he wasn't talking during class, but this time as Athena lectured the class about advanced bow-tuning he found himself in rapt attention. School, compared to the harsh world outside was much more peaceful.

Athena was pretty surprised herself, as Hatori was one of her best students. She in fact was the one who encouraged him to leave school to actually put his skills to the practice, and it was turning out well. Hatori had left his class at the same level as them- level 16, and he was now level 25 while the rest were still at around level 19. Still, it was a refreshing experience after a year of absence, and pretty soon I was vividly recounting my experiences throughout Victoria Island to my friends during the next break.

"Class, today we have a new student, please welcome Amethyst!" Exclaimed the teacher, who was probably new in the school. Hatori didn't see her the year before. "Oh well, she seems so overly cheerful" he thought as he leaned back in his chair, arms behind his head.

Ah. School.

Hatori's eyes caught sight of a girl sweeping in behind Jade, clad in archer-green and gold silk clothing, complete with a flowing blue silk cape that screamed "PRO" to all who saw her. His good mood soured a little.

After a few moments, the teacher coughed and told her to tell the class about herself. She started talking immediately, smoothing out her red hair tied into a loose ponytail, clearly enjoying the attention.

"Hi, I'm Amethyst Kaosu, I currently live with Athena Pierce and Jade... That's about all." She shrugged, showing an all too nonchalant air.

"Showoff", Hatori thought.

She turned to where Jade was sitting, obviously to emphasise her relationship with the daughter of the Saviour of Henesys, and sat down right beside her. Whispers and stares started up, and through the mixed mutters, Hatori heard comments like "What's a Hunter doing here?!" and "Probably another pro that has come to laugh at us noobs." He did not join in, even when the person beside him nudged him and muttered accusatory remarks about this Amethyst Kaosu.

The teacher coughed, and the room began to settle down quickly for the first lesson. A while later after the class started, Hatori turned around to see the girl delightedly whispering into her private messaging system. He shook his head and turned back to the lesson.

Arrogant.

--

Pretty soon it was lunch, and Hatori was practically mobbed outside the classroom by the other classes who heard about his return. Laughing, swapping stories to make up for the lost time, they advanced to a long bench in the lunch table. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Amethyst Kaosu glancing towards their group, looking as though she had just been forced particularly bad-tasting noodles. Hatori smirked.

Great choice, coming back on the same day as me. Who's got the attention now?

Suddenly, a plan came to Hatori, who shushed his exited classmates as he explained to them the plan, eyes gleaming. Yes, the Hunter would wish she never came to mock the first jobbers.

Hey you, hunter." Hatori said smugly. She whirled around angrily- she had every right seeing that he had just pushed her causing her bowl of noodles to clatter to the floor. Hatori held a bored look on his face and Amethyst's eyes flicked between him and a gang of people behind him. Hatori could practically smell the fear coming out from the supposed pro.

Jade winced from the corner. Hatori pitied Jade, having to stay with such a pretentious Hunter.

"What do you want?" She snapped. Patience or humour, among many others, was apparently not her strong virtue.

"I don't know if Ms. I'm-So-Perfect had told you," Hatori continued, keeping the drawl in his voice- he'll apologise to Jade later. "But this school do not accept anyone in the second job." He said in the same dry tone. "Get him, boys."

A flash, bone-numbing cold trickling down his face, and warm skin as he pushed others out of the path of the burning explosion were the last things he felt for a long time. Indeed, after the accident he didn't know if he ever regained his ability to feel.

--

Hatori looked into the mirror, staring dumbly at the shiny, raw, patches of skin, the half-nose, the dead cheek muscles giving his left lip, or what remained of it a permanent droopy look.

Then, like a dam with far too much water far too long, he broke.

Hatori gave a primal roar of something between a sob and a battle cry as his bare fist smashed his horribly disfigured reflection into a hundred glinting, bloodstained, grotesque copies.

--

TBC hopefully soon!

As you may have been able to tell, I introduced another 2 characters today, with the intent of stirring the plot to get me more interested in writing again. Only difference is that Hatori was someone me and Heiji discussed about a long time ago, and he follows a somewhat separate story plot from the Order and from Tom's group. Refer to Omoide No Kakera (spelling?) for an alternate view into his past.

I really enjoyed Hatori's flashback, as it allowed me to test myself on writing the same story from a wildly conflicting point of view. On one side we have Heiji fending off a school bully, on the other we have Hatori trying to protect his friends from being snubbed by yet another second-jobber who didn't belong. It's also interesting how such a small, insignificant encounter in Heiji's life can be such an enormous, life changing role in Hatori's.

It's best if you opened two windows and read the two versions side by side. It's pretty cool!

As for the part about the treasure, I had originally wanted them to open the treasure, but I felt that Tom and his gang were not ready for it. Besides, DaGreat should be present at the opening, as a friend… or foe? It's up to my brain to think of some interesting plot twist, so stay tuned till I update!

And yes, I decided not to make the Leader (whom I still don't have a name for) a stereotypical ugly evil villain, but instead more of a canny businessman and fighter, albeit with somewhat skewed morals.

And I also decided to make him really good-looking. Villains have their own privileges too! xP

Ah well. See you next time, and remember to review mine and RFB's work!

Trojanpony.

Word count: 5759 words counting this.


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